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SOMETHING HAPPENED

OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHORS

Through Jade Gate and Central Asia
A Desert Journal
Ambassadors for Christ
The Making of a Pioneer

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SOMETHING HAPPENED

BY

Mildred Cable and Francesca French
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Authors of

" Through Jade Gate and Central Asia," and
" The Fulfilment of a Dream."

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY

NEW YORK MCMXXXVI

SOMETHING HAPPENED

BY

Mildred Cable and Francesca French

\\

Authors of

" Through Jade Gate and Central Asia," and
" The Fulfilment of a Dream."

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY

NEW YORK MCMXXXVI

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

FOREWORD

THREE British Government officials were listening
to a fourth who told them some of the incidents
recorded in this book.

Their response to the story was : " What takes
these three women to such God-forsaken places ?
It can't be to make money ; if it were they make a
poor job of it. The fact that they do the journey
so often shows that it is not for record-breaking,
and the romance of adventure must have vanished
long ago. I would like to ask them why they do
it."

This book is our answer to that question. -,

EVANGELINE FRENCH.
MILDRED CABLE.
FRANCESCA FRENCH.

The Willow Cottage,
Wessex.

AUTHORS' NOTE

IN this personal story no reference is made to the
work of other missionaries. Between the City of
Prodigals and the City of Seagulls, the Trio only
met with two missionaries, both members of the
China Inland Mission, stationed at Urumtsi, capital
of Chinese Turkestan.

CONTENTS

\

PACE

I. EVANGELINE ....... 9

II. MILDRED 55

III. FRANCESCA 8 1

IV. THE TRIO 103

V. AMONG THE PRODIGALS . . . . .131

VI. AMONG THE PILGRIMS , . . . .179

VII. AMONG THE BANDITS 213

VIII. AMONG THE EUROPEANS 287

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

" EN AVANT 1 " THE CARAVAN IN MONGOLIA Frontispiece.

THE TWO CARTS " THE GOBI EXPRESS " AND

" THE FLYING TURKI " . . . Facing page 158

LAMAS OF THE EDZINGOL ... l68

"PILGRIM, WHAT DO YOU SEEK?" "i

SEEK THE REMISSION OF MY SINS " . ,, 182

" WE SAW THE MARKS OF YOUR CARTWHEELS
AND FOLLOWED YOU UP," SAID THE
BANDITS ,, 252

AGGRESSIVE EVANGELISM. A QAZAQ WOMAN

MEETS MILDRED CABLE . . . 294

MISSIONARY JOURNEYS (MAP) . . . ,, ,, 320

PART I
EVANGELINE

" I never have seen Maid Quiet.
Nodding her russet hood,
For the winds that awakened the stars
Are blowing through my blood.
I never have seen Maid Quiet,
Nodding alone and apart,
For the words that called up the lightning
Are calling through my heart."

EVANGELINE

LIFE might have followed an even course for the
French family were it not for the turmoil per-
petually kept seething by their robustious daughter,
Evangeline. From an obstreperous infancy she
emerged into a tempestuous childhood, and rebel-
lious defiance was the breath of her nostrils.
i Times and seasons were even fixed by reference
to the escapades and accidents which befell the
luckless child. It used to be " The winter when
Eva fell into the fire," or " The summer when she
tumbled into the pond," or " The autumn when she
broke her head open on the garden wall." Perhaps
it came from being born under the ray of action.
Be that as it may, she certainly met with more
accidents and mishaps than is the legitimate share
of any human being.

The first outsiders to handle this unusual child
were the gentle Catholic teachers of the clerical
school in the French provincial town where her
family alighted in one of their many migrations.
On the first day of her introduction to that school,
under some pretext, she regained her temporary
freedom, and when her teacher went in search of

12 SOMETHING HAPPENED

!

her, the little six-year-old was walking on the top
of the high wall of the school enclosure. Wringing
her hands in distress, Mademoiselle Eugenie ran
back to summon help, and soon there was a row of
distressed, black-robed women beseeching little Eva
to come down and put an end to their anxiety. One
of them held up half a bar of chocolate in glittering
silver paper, another clasped her hands in entreaty,
while the child from her really perilous position
bargained that if she came down, chocolates and
rewards should be her portion, but neither punish-
ments nor rebukes should be mentioned. When
the promise was given she quickly slid down and
claimed her prize. Having established a reputation
for audacity she set out to live up to it, and she stood
alone in the school for acts of daring, defiance and
insubordination. The schemes of punishment,
which had proved amply sufficient for all other little
girls of St. Omer, merely had the effect of a teasing
gnat-bite on the dauntless Eva.
i The teachers were under promise to bring no
pressure to bear on the religious beliefs of the few
Protestant pupils who attended, and this promise
was honourably kept, but the month of May brought
an inevitable flutter of religious excitement into the
school atmosphere. There were retreats, religious
(instructions, first Communions, and a daily proces-

EVANGELINE 13

sion to the Chapel of the Virgin, whose white altar
flowers were renewed each morning. The sight of
a big pageant in which she had no part bred revolt
in Eva's mind, and the only role which seemed to
offer sufficient scope for her energies was that of
the persecuted Protestant. It had not escaped her
sharp ears that she was there on a special footing,
and that her religious beliefs must be respected.
Other Protestant children might like to have a share
in arranging flowers, making paper roses for the
wreaths or trimming the baskets which held rose-
petals to be scattered in the procession, but this
was Eva's opportunity to show herself a staunch
and unrelenting Protestant, No paper roses would
she make, no knots of ribbon would she tie, no rose-
petals would she strip for their Catholic functions.
On one occasion a well-meaning but misguided
sister thought to help the child to a change of heart
by taking her hand and leading her to the Virgin's
feet, where she purposed to recite a prayer for her
little charge. Eva stiffened herself before the image
and resolutely refused to kneel, or to be prayed for.
Here was a grand opportunity for noble rebellion,
and she went home triumphantly, reporting to her
parents that the school authorities had broken their
contract, and were seeking to turn her from the
faith of her fathers. The applause she hoped for

14 SOMETHING HAPPENED

was not forthcoming, and it was disconcerting to
find the incident viewed quite coolly and to be
merely told to go back, be good and give no more
trouble.

In holiday-time and outside school hours her
spirit of independence had foil scope. St. Omer
was a wonderfully fortified town with a system of
moats, glacis and battlements calculated to make it
impregnable. Among these old fortifications Eva
French and her younger sister were allowed to play
at will. Long summer afternoons w;ere spent in
exploring the earthworks, and there was not a tree,
battlement or crumbling tower that was not climbed
and investigated.

The migratory instincts of the family were making
towards a move, and this time the children's educa-
tion was the main consideration in choosing a home.
With this in view the family moved to Geneva.
The daily routine of life was now completely
changed. Hard study was required to hold a place
in the big, efficient public schools which were
setting the standard of the educational world, and
childish games had to go. With a stroke of the
wand Eva French was transformed from the school
terror into the model, hard-working pupil. Seven
o'clock each morning found her at her desk with
never a bad mark for late arrivals. She worked,

EVANGELINE IJ

studied, made notes and threw herself into school
work with the same zest as had characterised her
exploits at St. Omer. Every moment was filled by
making the most of all the educational advantages
which Geneva provided, and the house became a
kind of switching station, to which the various
members returned for the purpose of taking in fuel
to enable them to divert energy on to some other
line. The hard-worked piano was in constant re-
quisition for somebody's practice, and the passion
for evening lectures made it impossible to live a
normal family life.

Acquaintances multiplied, and gradually all kinds
of interesting people came to use the house for pur-
poses of discussion, conversation and debate. The
intellectual ascendancy of the mother was the attrac-
tion to all sorts and conditions of people. Holidays
were used for the most vigorous excursions, and on
hot summer afternoons, when most people rest for
a few hours, Eva dragged her young sister out for
long walks at top speed over baking, glaring roads,
determined that no place within reach should remain
unvisited.

While, outwardly, Eva seemed to be a reformed
character, her family knew that the same insub-
ordinate spirit reigned within. At home she was
as hard to control as an unbroken colt, though her

l6 SOMETHING HAPPENED

school reports affirmed her to be a zealous, studious,
model pupil. During the summer weeks, which
were spent among the mountains, Eva's rashness
was a perpetual anxiety to her parents, for there was
a driving force within her which compelled her
to reach every summit, to conquer every physical
difficulty, and never to admit herself defeated. The
climax of her most irresponsible escapades was
when, left alone in a fifth-storey flat with her young
sister, she determined to climb out of the window,
.walk along an unparapeted edge and reach another
window. She did it, 'but found that for once she
had undertaken a more terrific feat than she had
anticipated. When she saw the street so far below
her and the people moving there like ants, and knew
that there was nothing but the stability of her own
nerve to save her from being dashed to pieces, she
realised for the first time in her life that danger was
a real thing, and that an accident might happen even
to her. She never did this wild thing again, but
her escapades were so varied that her family decided
that, like the proverbial cat, she must have,nine lives
to play with,

The midnight hour which brought in the new
year when she would pass her sixteenth birthday,
was made memorable by another of her wild adven-
tures. A strong north-east wind had blown for

EVANGELINE 17

days, lashing the waves of the lake over the break-
water which enclosed the port of Geneva. Gradually
the narrow stone pier had become encased with ice,
until it presented a perfectly smooth, concave surface
on which it was practically impossible to keep a
footing. The town was mfite, and the girls had
been to see the fair and enjoy the merrymaking.
As they neared the breakwater, on the way home,
Eva left the party and dashed on to the icy way,
disappearing in the dark. No answer came to the
shouts calling her back, and it was impossible to
follow. Her family had long since decided that
no lives must be risked to save hers - if she would
perish, she must perish. There was an hour of
horrible anxiety, at the end of which time she re-
appeared, triumphant and grinning, and under her
arm she carried sword-like icicles fully five feet long.
It was useless to scold, but the frigidity of her
reception was only equalled by the iciness of the
load she bore.

There was no gaiety in pleasure-loving Geneva
in which she did not take her full share. The first
ball she attended was given by the British consul at
the time of Queen Victoria's Jubilee, when the loyal
colony celebrated the event with feasting and
dancing. Eva's programme was quickly scribbled
over with the names of such youths as were

l8 SOMETHING HAPPENED

prepared to dance without respite, and who never
wanted to waste time talking sentiment in moonlit
gardens. A dance was to her a delightful oppor-
tunity for physical exercise, combined with healthy
enjoyment of the good things which supper pro-
vided, and never till sunrise could her weary
chaperone tear her away, yet eight o'clock found
her marching off to her lectures, a serious student
once more.

This fierce thirst for pleasure, excitement and
adventure only expressed one side of her nature.
On the other her spirit was roving in the realms
of uttermost dissatisfaction. Among the literary
acquaintances of the household were many who
belonged to the Realist school, which indulged
gloominess and pessimism to its extreme point, and
Eva was readily influenced by the morbid tendencies
of this group. Geneva was also the city of refuge
to Russian political offenders, and from this centre
the Nihilist Press issued its propagandist literature.
At that very time plans were laid which have
since resulted in the upheaval from which Bol-
shevism was born. It was not an atmosphere in
which superficial or frivolous views of life could
thrive, and subjects were discussed in her presence
which set Eva French thinking furiously.

The Genevan theological world held its own on

EVANGELINE 19

the intellectual and moral plane. The ministers of
the town were a band of men whose influence was
felt in the civic and educational world, but who
seemed segregated from the despairing souls of
these outer circles. On Sunday morning by nine
o'clock Eva was always seated, along with a large
congregation, in the plain building where the black-
robed minister delivered eloquent and thoughtful
discourses on matters theological and moral, and
at ten o'clock she left that church to go direct to
another ; in fact, theological discourses supplied in-
tellectual interest on Sundays, just as other lectures
met the mental needs of the weekday.

The sound doctrine did have the effect of pro-
ducing on the congregations a realisation of sin,
of alienation from God, and of an account which
would have to be settled before peace of mind could
ensue but the particular appeal which brings
wanderers home was lacking.

Once she made a definite effort to get help. At
some small social function she was left alone, in a
room, with the English chaplain. Turning to him,
without any preliminary, she said :

" I am miserable and dissatisfied. Can you tell
me how to get satisfaction ? "

He stared, obviously taken aback by the abrupt-
ness of the question.

20 SOMETHING HAPPENED

"Well," he said, "you always attend Church
services. They ought to help you."

Instantly she knew that this man could not
produce a solution to the problem of her dis-
quietude, and she said no more.

In due time Eva French left the Ecole Secondaire
and became a student at the University. Here her
intercourse with Nihilist fellow-students deepened
her conviction that there was something so essen-
tially wrong with the world that nothing but
revolution could set it right. She would have
sacrificed life, so that she might take her share in
the rectification of all things, but her sense of utter
incapacity to deal, even with her own disordered
and tempestuous nature, bred despair and drove her
to greater recklessness. She would have given
much to be able to deny the existence of God, as
her Nihilist friends did, or to throw moral restraints
to the winds, but she could not. The problems
of life and the tragedies of her own mysterious
personality were too much for her, and she
became a prey to such gloom as is known only
to the young who, lacking experience of life,
are unduly frightened by its threats. She was
highly impressionable, and the Russian authors
whose works, she now devoured, caught her
imagination and absorbed her interest in the

EVANGELINE 21 .

profound and vital matters with which they dealt
so mightily.

Among all these turbulent influences she made
one contact of a different order. It was a friendship
with the wife of Bishop Shereshewsky, Prelate of
the American Episcopal Church in China. The
bishop himself was a very sick man, partly paralysed,
who had to be lifted by his servant in and out of
the chair in which he took his exercise. In spite
of his poor health he was working hard at the
translation of the Scriptures into Chinese, trans-
lating direct from the Hebrew, a task for which
he was well fitted owing to Jewish parentage and
his scholarly knowledge of Chinese. His wife had,
before her marriage, been a teacher in the Mary
Richardson School at Shanghai. Eva's deep in-
terest in all Mrs. Shereshewsky told her concerning
the Chinese girls to whom she was so warmly
attached, led her to talk to Eva about China more
than she did to anyone else, and the result was a
living impression of Chinese girlhood which Eva
never wholly lost.

The great religious sensation, however, was the
coming to Geneva of the Salvation Army. In an
; atmosphere of riot, persecution, imprisonment, en-
thusiasm and hallelujahs they burst on the horizon,
and at once set about to break the law of the land

2Z SOMETHING HAPPENED

by holding open-air meetings. This was forbidden
by the authorities, and with good reason, for the
atmosphere of Geneva was too highly charged with
dangerous elements to permit of open-air demon-
strations. Italian Communists, Russian Nihilists,
French Atheists, Roman Catholics and Salvation
Army hot-gospellers were all alike permitted
freedom of utterance within the walls of a hired
building, but on the matter of processions, demon-
strations and open-air propaganda, the authorities
were adamant. There was that about the methods
of the charming young Marechale and her band
of enthusiastic, happy, simple, English youths and
maidens, several of whom had no command of the
French language and could only clap their hands
and say " Je suis sauvt" which took the town
by storm. The more chivalrous rallied round
them and loved them, but they provoked the
rowdy element to anything but good works. The
meetings which they held generally broke up in
pandemonium, with the police protecting charm-
ing Salvationists from rough hooligans; but when
repeated warnings from the authorities were
disregarded, they got to business and imposed
imprisonment. Curiosity drew everyone to the
Salvation Army meetings, and night after night
Evangeline enjoyed the thrills, the songs, the fun

EVANGELINE 33

of grotesque testimonies in hopeless French, and
even the riots with which the meeting generally
broke up.

Personal friendships were slightly scorned in the
too strong mental atmosphere of Evangeline's
home, where anything approaching to sentimen-
tality was anathema, and even the most normal
girl friendships never matured. Domesticity shared
the same fate, and the standard of comfort was low.
Household matters were relegated to the tender
mercies of Emilie, a German-Swiss peasant girl,
who was left to make the best she could out of
the elements provided for her. No one held up
the urgent business of life to bother about meals
or niceties, but for purposes of classes, lectures
and time-tables the punctuality of the house was
military in its discipline.

In spite of the multiple interests of continental
life, the inevitable hour came when there was desire
for a move and talk of a possible flit. The family
felt it was time, if ever, to give England a chance,
but the parents had lived abroad for so many years
that they thought of England as a strange land, and
the gkls had never lived there at all, so were
quite sure it must be a wonderful place, and thought
of the move with excitement. The Geneva flat
was given up, the furniture was quickly bought

24 SOMETHING HAPPENED

by some new arrivals, and the whole family set off
for England. < The main difficulty was to know
where to settle, for there was no single town in the
British Isles which offered any particular attraction.
Finally, for various family reasons, it was decided
to make the first halt at a South Coast town. The
fervid Nihilist, the incipient Communist, the
embryonic Bolshevist, known to her world as
Evangeline French, at this time entered her first
protest against English provincialism which seemed
to her conventional, snobbish, vapid and, worst of
all, to measure even the great things of the world
by the standards of its own little footrule. The
instruction of the local music-master was so tame
after the stimulating atmosphere of the Conserva-
toire, and the local School of Art showed up so
poorly by the side of the well-equipped drawing-
schools of Geneva, that Eva discarded the whole
thing. Church services seemed unreal, and the
sermon supplied but little food for thought, so that
she soon gave up attending any place of worship.
There is no doubt that Eva cut a strange figure
in the rigid Victorian set. It was not quite " the
thing " to have been educated " on the Continent "
and to be completely bi-lingual. For a young lady
to hold strong opinions, to be revolutionary in out-
look and unusual in small ways, was sufficient to

EVANGELINE 25

bring her under suspicion. Misery and depression
closed in upon her like a dense fog, introspection
and morbidity became the natural habit of her mind.
She read, but increasingly cared only for that which
was tragic, analytical or melancholy. The things
which occupied her mind could never be ventilated
in provincial society, and the conversation of the
tea-party bored her to tears. Under the strain of
nervous disorder her health went to pieces, and
she was increasingly unable to control her nerves
and her temper.

The first difficult winter was lived through with
a desolating sense of a vista of such seasons ahead.
In revolt against the world order, deeply conscious
of the chaotic condition of human society, yet unable
to find a solution or even amelioration for the lot
of suffering humanity, in which her own present and
future life was involved, the whole misery of man-
kind seemed to be laid upon her consciousness.
The burdens imposed on woman, the horrors of the
sweating system, the intolerable conditions of those
living in extreme poverty, the sufferings of men and
women in Siberia, banished for no other reason than
that they demanded freedom of speech and the right
to live - all these things suddenly combined to crush
her under an intolerable weight of suffering, in the
midst of which she realised she was helpless to bring

z6 SOMETHING HAPPENED

relief, and by the aimless drift of her life merely
added her small quota to the sum total of human
tragedy.

Eva was not highly articulate, and hers could
never be the relief of formulating her deepest
feelings in mighty phrases, but one evening,
tramping up and down the room, she made an
effort to put into words the tempestuous thoughts
of her mind. Bursting out she cried : " I'm done
with all this humbug. If I could, I would take
the whole misery of the world on myself, and
throw myself into the sea with it." To her amaze-
ment, her sister, who had never in her life framed
a religious sentiment, answered : " You need not
do that, Eva, it was done long ago by Christ on
the Cross." The effect was electric, and Eva could
only feebly answer : " That isn't the way I meant
it," but the explosion was over.

A fortnight later something happened. An
incident, trivial in its outer aspect, but tremendous
in its import, led Eva, one afternoon, into an out-
of-the-way church in a poor quarter of the town.
An evangelistic mission was being held and the
pulpit was occupied by an elderly man who, after
the singing of a gospel hymn, began with utter
simplicity to speak on an incident in the life of
Christ. As she sat in that pew, the preacher, the

EVANGELINE 2.-J

choir and the congregation suddenly ceased to
exist for her, and she was alone with Christ. As
the vision broke upon her she fell at His feet and
begged forgiveness for all the sin and rebellion of
the past. She saw in His death on the Cross a full,
perfect and sufficient oblation for her sins. Then
and there she accepted salvation and staked her all
on the fact that Christ had died for her. In His
Presence everything fell into right proportion, and
her own wilful, undisciplined nature met its Master.
Now she knew that Christ was asking her to give
Him her heart, and to yield up her life for His use.
In this moment of illumination she saw that above
chaos there was a plan, and in that plan a place for
her. In her innermost being she yielded, accepted
Christ as Saviour, acknowledged Him as Lord, and
came back to a consciousness of her surroundings
to hear the choir singing the closing hymn : " Safe
in the arms of Jesus."

She left the church, came straight home, and the
same day told her family that she had found Christ.
Personal religion never came under discussion in
this household, and the information was received
with a disconcerting silence, but within a few days
it was quite clear that something tremendous had
happened. Evangeline, who hitherto had never
recognised authority, was mastered, and she was

28 SOMETHING HAPPENED

now a willing slave to the One Who told her that
He needed her. There was an end to wild talk,
unbridled passion and ungovernable temper. Her
restlessness, like the sea when the typhoon is over,
gradually subsided, until there was a calm such as
she had never yet experienced.

When, at the close of the mission, the hard-
working clergyman made an appeal for Sunday
school teachers and district visitors she was the
first to respond, for she knew by the unmistakable
witness within her, that she was saved to serve.
The confusion of her mental life was adjusted by
the new orientation and there was no problem for
her as to how much of the old she might legiti-
mately retain, for in Christ she was a new creation
with a new objective, new tastes and a revolutionised
interest in life.

The church was in a slum parish, and the vicar
immediately appointed Eva as visitor to one of the
worst streets of the neighbourhood. Here she met
down-and-outs in all their undisguised misery. It
was a seafaring town, and in her district were many
houses of young girls whose profession was that of
temptress to Jack ashore. In the cellars and attics
wretched families lived on the earnings of some
seafarer's deserted wife. At each corner there was
a public-house crowded with men, women and

EVANGELINE 29

children, and among these sin-seared people she
found herself curiously at home. Here, on the
physical plane, was the same turbulence which had
so lately dominated her own mental life, and she
had something quite definite to say to them. In
the artificial, respectable, smug circles she was for
ever fiercely protesting against some accepted canon
of convention, and she resented the waste of time
which was spent in skimming the surface and
denying the depths, but among the wretched and
drunken, the unhappy and despairing, she found
that something of infinite value had been entrusted
to her to convey to them.

There were now no idle hours in her day. All
through the summer she worked hard at a Children's
Beach Mission, and all the year round did more than
her share at Sunday school, district visiting and
cottage meetings, but she quickly realised that this
was but a preliminary step to her life-work. The
missioner who spoke on the afternoon when she
was converted, had paid a second visit to the
locality. This time he was staying with friends,
and Eva was asked to meet him at their house.
During tea he spoke of a journey to India and of
various things he had seen there. Before the end
of that meal Eva received a definite inward call to
be a missionary, and from that time her mind never

30 SOMETHING HAPPENED

wavered for one moment from the conviction that
God had appointed her to be an evangelist among
the heathen.

When she began to ponder details she found a
certainty in her mind that China was to be the
country, and as it were in confirmation of this
leading, there was brought to her notice before long
the name of a society called The China Inland
Mission. The very name attracted her because it
settled the initial difficulties which might so easily
occur in dealing with other societies, such as finding
yourself appointed to Central Africa when you
knew clearly that your call was to China. In due
course a letter went to the secretary of the China
Inland Mission which contained an offer of service
from Evangeline French.

This remarkable organisation was a body of
people under the leadership of Dr. Hudson Taylor,
the first man who set out to evangelise the inland
provinces of China. The society, which accepted
all those who they were convinced had received the
call of God, guaranteed no support, solicited no
funds, and would not go into debt. The answer
to her letter came in the form of an invitation to
spend a few days in the Women Candidates' Home
which was under the superintendence of Miss
Henrietta Soltau.

EVANGEHNE 31

On the day appointed she walked along the row
of uniform houses called Pyrland Road until she
found No. 41 . She knocked at the door, which was
opened by a smiling girl who took her name, re-
ported her arrival, and then conducted her to a room
divided by cotton curtains into four sections. In
the corner allotted to her was a small bed, one chair
and a fainted wood wash-hand stand. A little later
she was called down to take on her first job, which
was the writing of labels to be pasted on a great
array of jam-pots. She was painfully afraid of doing
anything wrong, and she wrote them all out in her
best copper-plate hand, but view them as she might
they would not look right, and she was made the
more nervous by the intimate knowledge that
spelling was her weak point. When the middle-
aged woman who was superintending the jam
making looked at the labels, a puzzled expression
flitted across her face, as though they would not
come right for her either. In the middle of the
night Eva realised, with horror, that she had written
them all in French, "Abricot," instead of the
English " Apricot." She felt this was a bad be-
ginning, and when a few days later her bed, being
unexpectedly inspected, the housekeeper exclaimed :
" My dear, what would the Chinese say to a bed
made like that ? " she felt she had but slender hopes

32 SOMETHING HAPPENED

of passing the councils. In later years as she rolled
up her wadded quilt and stuffed it, along with a
blanket, into her sleeping-bag, she thought of that
early reproof and contrasted methods of training
with the end thereof. As days went by she became
painfully conscious that she knew all the things she
ought not to have known and knew none of the
things which she ought to have known, and there
was no health in her.

In due course she saw the councils, and when,
in answer to the question : " How long have you
been converted ? " she said : " One year," a look
went round which she interpreted to be unfavour-
able, and at the close of the interview she went back
to her cubicle filled with despair.

The atmosphere of the house was pervaded by
the charm of its gracious superintendent, who
radiated goodness. The basis of unquestioning
faith on which the home was conducted was in
itself a spiritual education to all who came. When
they reached China these girls would find themselves
literally dependent upon God for material supplies,
and in this house they learned the first lessons of that
dependence. The days spent there were a great
help to Eva in the things of the spirit, and when
she left she was much encouraged at being told to
come again in a few weeks' time for a longer visit.

EVANGELINE 33

"Anyhow," she thought, "they have not turned
me down straight off, and perhaps I shall show up
better next time." In comparison with most of the
other candidates she felt painfully undomesticated,
and she came home determined to remedy this
defect, but in the surroundings of her own home
she quickly backslid into her usual habit of regarding
domestic work as a bothersome duty to be dis-
patched with the greatest possible speed. At
Pyrland Road one of the staff, looking at her well-
cut dress, had pointedly asked her if she could make
her own clothes. In this she detected some hidden
trap which might block her way to China and must
therefore be circumvented. As soon as she got
home she bought a length of serge and sat down
to make herself a dress. With infinite toil, and by
dint of many unpickings, a garment was eventually
produced which bore unmistakable evidence of
having been home-made, and was sufficiently
dowdy, even for a missionary, so on her second
visit to Pyrland Road she wore it.

She now passed the initial stage of being definitely
accepted for training, and it was arranged by the
China Inland Mission that she go to Deaconess
House, Liverpool, for two years. Deaconess House
had a reputation for being the most strenuous of the
training-schools, and this was quite in keeping with

34 SOMETHING HAPPENED

Eva French's ideas. She was prepared to throw
herself heart and soul into the work and bow to
every form of discipline. Indeed, she was inclined
to view all the demands of this period as planks of
the bridge over which she must walk in order to
reach China, and with her eye on the goal none
of these things moved her. A preliminary letter
came, telling her what outfit she would require at
Deaconess House, informing her that she would
immediately wear uniform and requesting her
to arrive in the plainest of clothes, preferably
wearing a bonnet. She overhauled her wardrobe
and selected the home-made black serge dress as
being most devoid of style, but the matter of the
bonnet was more puzzling. She was accustomed
to do her district visiting in a plain sailor hat, but
since, for some mysterious reason, any hat seemed
to be unsuitable to wear, even for the journey to
Deaconess House, some way had to be found out
of the difficulty. Her mother's charming bonnets
of lace, twisted with an egret or a flower, were the
only ones available, so she tried them all on, but
wisely discarded them and decided to take the risk of
scandalising Deaconess House by appearing in a hat.
When the day came she went off happily to
Liverpool, but the very next day received
the news of her father's sudden death. He had

EVANGELINE JJ

succumbed to a heart attack twenty-four hours
after she left home. Under the sobering influence
of this shock, Eva French entered upon two years
of concentrated work and discipline, determined to
stumble at nothing that was considered necessary
to equip her for China. For the first year all went
well. Each morning was spent in Bible study, and
the excellent grounding she had acquired from the
pasteurs in Geneva stood her in such good stead
that to her own amazement her name appeared
second on the list of the first scripture general
knowledge examination.

There was no end to the activities of Deaconess
House, and the deaconesses were lent out to hard-
worked vicars in the slum parishes of Liverpool,
where they toiled unremittingly among the Sunday
schools, cottage meetings, girls' clubs, bands of
hope, and open-air meetings. Each one could be
relied upon to do the work of a whole-time curate,
without the inconvenience of requiring a stipend.
Eva's Sunday evenings were spent at the, Strangers'
Rest, where she was very happy among people of
all nationalities. She was made leader of a club
for French-speaking gkls, and using that language
with more fluency than English, she was useful as
French teacher in the Y.W.C.A. Educational De-
partment. Gordon Hall, its headquarters, was also

36 SOMETHING HAPPENED

used for a multitude of evangelistic activities, and
Eva was one of those appointed to lay the carpets,
move the chairs, sweep, clean and dust. Life was
one hectic struggle with multitudinous duties, but
no one cleared them off more expeditiously than
Eva French.

The second year things took a bad turn, for it
was decreed that she should have six months'
training at a large Liverpool hospital. She was
still to live in Deaconess House, but walk every
day to her work, be an extern probationer, and
return home at night. She hated nursing, hospital
wards, and all the paraphernalia of the sick-room.
In this uncongenial atmosphere she wilted, and
every day it became harder to drag herself to those
distasteful duties. At the end of a month she knew
she was heading for a breakdown, but carried on
doggedly until the day when she collapsed in the
ward, and was carried to a room where the doctor
saw her. He sent her back to Deaconess House
with a strong message that she was to be put to bed,
well fed, and do no more of their charring. Thus
ended her hospital career. Delighted as she was
to be free of the place, her heart sank when she
realised that failure in this one branch of her training
might close the door of China to her. As soon as
she recovered a little she was sent back to her

EVANGEHNE 37

beloved slum district. Living in these mean streets
were people whom she had led to Christ, and who
were now making a brave attempt to live a Christian
life in devastating surroundings. She knew that
her gift was personal work, and the visiting gave
her opportunity for the conversations through
which she brought to so many the knowledge of
her Saviour.

All through the years of preparation Eva's family
felt slightly estranged from the subdued young
woman who came and went with such grave
demeanour, and who was so unlike the tornado of
a girl who used to keep the house in a perpetual
commotion. They wondered if she wholly realised
how contrary to her own nature was this exterior
of uniform piety that she wore, and they deplored
an ornament which suited her so badly. It seemed
impossible that that which she had been, could
ever become that which she now appeared.

It was as though she had slipped a sheath over
her personality which so covered it as to make con-
tact impossible with those very people to whom
the witness of her conversion would have been most
telling. There was no doubt that in the slums she
found liberty of expression, and again, later on, in
China, when she went out among the villages.
Then the sheath was left at home, to be slipped on

38 SOMETHING HAPPENED

again when she came back to the compound. Not
until ten years later was that old mask finally
discarded and, under the influence of understanding
comradeship, the real Eva re-emerged.

In the training-home she wore it always, and those
who handled her never knew the woman that she
really was. She always feared that if she showed
her natural self she would be misunderstood, and
the door of China might be shut to her, so she learnt
to walk circumspectly and held her strong per-
sonality in check, so as to appear that which she was
asked to be. Trainers disciplined her, but on her,
discipline had the effect of compression, and not
development.

At the close of the summer term she returned
to London, and then the fight began. Miss Soltau
maintained that the hospital test was an unfair
trial of strength, but the warden of Deaconess
House said that Eva's sphere was clearly in
England, where her knowledge of languages
specially fitted her for Y.W.C.A. work. Doctors
shook their heads, because she had never fully
recovered strength since the unfortunate break-
down, and there was a bad mark against her for an
attack of rheumatic fever, years ago, in Geneva.
The councils hesitated, and referred her to yet
other doctors, who all agreed it was taking a very

EVANGELINE 39

big risk to send her to the East. At this junctut e,
however, Dr. Hudson Taylor himself stepped in.
He personally assumed the responsibility of ac-
cepting and sending her to North China, where the
climate would be less exacting than in the southern
provinces. Through it all Evangeline kept a steady
head and an unmoved conviction that her call to
China was a Divine commission, not finally depend-
ent on the opinion of either councils or doctors.

Her family were now living in Richmond, Surrey,
and all through July and August of 1893 she went
to and from Pyrland Road packing her outfit and
making arrangements to sail on the ist September
by the P. & O. steamship Britannia. The warden
of Deaconess House still refused to leave Dr.
Hudson Taylor's decision unchallenged, and made it
her business to influence certain members of council
so that, almost up to the day of sailing, someone was
urging that Eva should be held back on further
probation. Dr. Hudson Taylor, however, having
made the decision was not to be deterred, and when
the time came, she sailed from Tilbury Docks.

The voyage was a desperately uncomfortable one,
the boat was even then old-fashioned, the cabins
cramped and stuffy, the food unpalatable, and
the whole party was tormented with sea-sickness.
They associated little with fellow-travellers, it being

40 SOMETHING HAPPENED

considered desirable that missionaries should from
the commencement adopt a policy of exclusion, and
the sight of those sober young women holding
prayer meetings and taking lessons in the Chinese
language was certainly calculated to keep outsiders
at bay. Board ship life left an impression of such
misery and deadly monotony as made her dread the
prospect of a second voyage. In the China Sea the
ship encountered a typhoon, and dull monotony
was exchanged for acute misery. With joy she left
the boat at Shanghai, and proceeded up the Grand
Canal to Yangchow, where the China Inland
Mission's Women's Language School is situated.

Six months later, seeing that her health was still
not satisfactory, she was appointed to Kaoyu, a
town only a day's journey along the Grand Canal.
It was a mistaken move, for Kaoyu was hot, damp,
unhealthy, infested with mosquitoes, and during
her first summer in China she had both malaria
and dysentery. Fortunately Dr. Hudson Taylor
reappeared on the scene, sent for Eva French and
dispatched her at once to the dry, northern province
of Shansi. Here illness disappeared and she became
a normal, healthy woman.

This was 1894, the year of the Sino- Japanese war,
so the journey inland could not be taken by the
ordinary route. There were four young women to

EVANGELINE 41

travel north and they started off on the great adven-
ture of a three months' journey across China, by
boat and cart. The mission authorities had selected
the most delightful escort for the party, a man who
was a brilliant speaker of Chinese, and so thoroughly
understood the people that he could win his way
among them anywhere. He set out to make the
journey as profitable and happy as possible, and
Evangeline revelled in the experiences which they
encountered, was encouraged by the progress she
made in the language, and thoroughly enjoyed
fellowship with her earnest, devoted, thorough-
going fellow-travellers, as well as the racy intervals
during which their escort displayed his gifts of
humour, and taught them to appreciate China and
the Chinese, There is a priceless letter written
during the journey, in which he describes each one
of the interesting group of girls. Of Evangeline
he wrote as follows :

" Miss Eva French is a sort of angel who has
come to tabernacle for a short time in the flesh, but
who is largely sustained by ambrosial food. She
did us all good spiritually and acted the part of
lady's maid to the party."

Soon after her arrival in Shansi, Evangeline began
to find an outlet for the exercise of her special gifts.

42 SOMETHING HAPPENED

She laid hold of an old Chinese woman, to whom
she paid a small wage, nominally to wait upon her,
but in r eality to be the means of introducing hec
to the homes of innumerable friends and relations.
Riding on donkeys the two women scoured the
villages and, when necessary, spent the night in
the house of any who would give them shelter.
The mission station soon became a place in which
to keep her boxes, but her missionary work was
right out among the people.

Sometimes in the long rides across the sun-baked
plain, she would think back to the time, so few
years before, when she was still turbulent and rest-
less, and she marvelled at the grace which had
stepped in, controlled her nature and unified her
being. She now began to see in operation the
marvellous order of a surrendered life. Only five
years before, sitting in the varnished pew of a com-
monplace building, God had made her understand
that He needed her life for the fulfilment of His
purpose, and now she was entering on a further
step of response to that vocation. Her preparation
for China had been a mere interlude, a difficult
period of constraint, when she was forced into a
groove in which she could never have run easily.
Its greatest value had been that for the first time
she willingly recognised authority, and bowed her

EVANGELINE 43

untamed will to the demands of uncongenial con-
ditions. By taking up this pilgrim-preacher's life
she deliberately chose conditions of utter discom-
fort, sharing the lot of those whose standard of life
was of the lowest. She often slept on verminous
beds, lying by the side of opium-smoking women,
who got up at midnight to take the dope. For long,
sleepless hours she would lie and listen while those
women talked to each other, and in this way she
got to know her people. Her whole being was
thrilled with the deep sense of satisfaction which
only comes to him who is at peace with God, and
is doing his job.

As the years went by great things happened.
Some of those opium smokers were converted and
their lives changed. Those who had been slaves
to sin were liberated, and instead of lying on the
mud kang* inhaling the deadly drug, their persons
and houses were clean, and they were out and about
telling others of their wonderful Saviour. Evan-
geline was no longer dependent upon a gossiping
old woman to open homes to her. She now had
more invitations than she could accept, and some
women in distant villages had come to be fellow-
workers, and were her frequent companions on
evangelistic trips.

*Kang. A brick or mud bed heated by a fire.

44 SOMETHING HAPPENED

In the spring of 1900 she rode out to spend a
few days in the house of such an one. Before she
reached Mrs. Meng's door, the bright, earnest
woman ran out to meet her, helped her to alight,
took her by the hand, carried her bags, and brought
her into the house. " It was hot on the road to-
day; wash your hands and face while I boil the
water and get you a cup of tea," she said. Then
neighbours crowded in, and there was no more
quiet until dark when the door was shut, and the
two women, each rolled in a wadded coverlet, lay
on the brick bed.

Then Eva spoke. " Sister," she said, " a strange
thing happened to-day as I came into the village.
A man looked up from his hoeing and, when he
saw me, made a sign as if to cut his throat. What
was the meaning of it ? "

"Teacher," Mrs. Meng answered, "there are
terrible rumours of coming trouble. In the pro-
vince east of the hills there is a society called
* Righteous Fists/ and they who join it threaten to
kill every Christian in thejand."

" But what have they against the Christians ? "
Eva asked, though the reports from east of the
mountains were not news to her.

" They are the Christians' enemies, Teacher ;
they are devil-possessed. No weapon can wound

EVANGELINE 45

them." Then in a low whisper : " Our village is
full of them and the man you saw is one of them.
No one speaks about it, but there is danger ahead."
During the next few days, missionary and con-
vert read together the book of Revelation, and
every word seemed pregnant with meaning and
more living than ever before. As they parted
Evangeline turned to Mrs. Meng, saying :

" Never forget that command : * Be thou faithful
unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. 5 "
" Teacher," the woman answered, " I know."
From that house Eva went on to another farm,
many miles distant, where nine brothers lived under
one roof and worked the land together. The eldest
son was a vigorous Christian and the leading spirit
of the family. The temper of the people was
changing rapidly, and they could talk of little else
than the threatening storm. The news that the
anti-foreign Governor of Shantung had been pro-
moted to be Governor of Shansi showed plainly
that official approval was behind this so-called
Boxer movement. Evangeline saw that it was
quite a new thought to these simple folk that
Christians might really have to die for their faith,
and she deliberately told them of a recent massacre
in South China, when missionaries and their
children had all died together.

46 SOMETHING HAPPENED

" How about it ? What will happen if the same
trouble comes here, and you have to choose be-
tween death or denying your Saviour ? " she asked.

There was a silence, and then the eldest brother
spoke. " I could never deny Christ," he said, then
very soberly he added : " Even if I had to die for
Him."

As he said it a light came into the face of his little
brother of fourteen, the seventh of the big family.

" Nor could I," he cried out.

A few weeks later bands of Boxers, decked with
ribbons and sword in hand, were drilling in all these
villages. Then the order was given to kill, and
this elder brother, his wife and children were slain
together. The little seventh boy also sealed his
testimony with his blood.

Many Christians fled into the hills, but no one
gave the widow Meng warning to do so, because
her family hated her Christianity. As she sat at the
loom one morning, a band of murderers thundered
at her courtyard door. She rose, and seeing who
they were asked them in, saying :

" Gentlemen, I am ready for you, but just allow
me time to change my dress."

Then she went to her room, knelt for a moment,
put on her best dress and coming back she quietly
said:

EVANGELINE 47

" Now, sirs, I am ready."
In a moment her head was severed from her body,
and she went the nearest way to the Celestial Gate.
They had killed her body, and after that they had
no more that they could do.

While these things were happening in the villages
Eva French was hemmed in, caught in a mission
compound in the centre of a large town, and she
had with her several young missionaries who had
been placed in her charge for the summer months.
It was hopeless to try and get anybody to a place
of safety, but no one had thought of this town as
being particularly hostile. As they sat at lunch
one day, they were startled by the angry growl of
a Chinese mob outside their compound walls. At
the same moment a young servant rushed in to
give them warning that the whole town was in
an uproar, and men were hammering at the front
gate.

" We must go dkect to the city magistrate," Eva
said. " Who can lead us to the Yamen ? "

" I know the way," said the boy.

" But dare you take us there ? " she asked.

" Certainly I dare," he answered.

In a flash Eva had been guided to see that their
only hope of escape was to make the local official
responsible for their safety and for any catastrophe

((
tt

48 SOMETHING HAPPENED

which might overtake them within the area of his
jurisdiction. To her companions she said :

"We will all go to the Yamen. Whatever
happens we must not be separated. However
wild the crowd, let us walk quietly and not look
frightened."

A moment later the small party of women walked
out by the back-door into a side street. Instantly
the mob sighted them, and there was a wild surge
of yelling fiends around.

Kill! Kill the foreign devil ! Kill I"
Go ahead," said Evangeline to the boy, and as
quietly as though they were out for an afternoon
stroll, the women walked into the midst of the mob
which unaccountably parted and fell back before
them. It was ten minutes' walk to the Yamen, but
they reached it alive and were taken directly to the
magistrate's presence. Now they understood why
the mob had so suddenly risen, for they heard that
on that very day a dispatch had been received direct
from the Empress Dowager, which read: "Kill
every foreigner you have in the town." The whole
city knew of it, and if there was killing to be done,
there were plenty of men ready to lend a hand.
! The Yamen was packed with people watching the
strange scene, and eager to report on any lack of
obedience to the throne on the part of this man-

EVANGELINE 49

darin, who was a native of South China, and spoke
the peculiar dialect of his own locality. ?

" I can do nothing to help you. I have orders
from the Emperor to kill you," he shouted, as he
paced angrily up and down the room.

"Are these orders issued by the Emperor?"
asked Evangeline.

" No, by the Empress Dowager, the old Buddha,"
he said angrily ; then seeing he had to act, he ex-
claimed : " What are you women doing here alone ?
Where are your men-folk ? Well, seeing you are
but women I'll pass you on to where you have some
men," thus grasping at a possible solution for
himself; for while he was loath to kill, he dared
not disobey. Then passing quite close to Evan-
geline, in his pacings, he murmured : " Whatever
you do don't go north."

That day her wits were sharpened by the Spirit
of God, and the man's strange accent came to her
clear and unmistakable in its meaning. A moment
later he was standing in front of the crowd, telling
her in a loud voice that he would arrange for carts
to take her north to the capital city, where both
he and she knew that the murderous Governor
Yu Hsien held sway.

Then the comedy began. He for his own safety's
sake urged her to certain death, under the guise of

50 SOMETHING HAPPENED

protection; she countered him on the strength of the
hint he had given her, and absolutely refused to go
anywhere, except due south. Slowly, reluctantly,
and with every appearance of anger at this obstinate
woman's persistence, he finally yielded, saying :
" Very well, have your own way, south you go."

That night the party remained in the Yamen,
and very early next morning was sent off on the
four days' journey south, to a town where another
party was waiting for an escort to leave the province,
The official had written out a passport which made
each mandarin in turn responsible either to hand
them over in safety to the next official, or kill them
himself. i

The party travelled under military guard, and the
soldiers sitting on the front of the cart began to
talk : " It was because of the pistols up your sleeves
that no one dared to attack you in the streets yester-
day ; if it had not been for that you would have been
done for." It then transpired that as the women
walked out of the house it was evident to the mob
that they were holding something up their wide
sleeves, and the word went round : " Foreign
pistols 1 " No one dared to be the first to attack,
and so they reached the Yamen in safety. The
absence of fear, the quietness of their movements,
and their dignified calm in the midst of such danger,

EVANGELINE 51

all went to prove that they had some unseen means
of protection. The fact was that each girl had
seized her Bible, and was carrying it out of sight
up her sleeve.

For his help to Evangeline French and party, this
man was degraded by the Empress Dowager herself
when she passed through that town some months
later, fleeing from the retribution which her own
mad deeds had brought upon her.

The season of intense heat had come upon them,
but all day they were shut into a springless cart
behind thick curtains. Each night they were
smuggled into some Yamen quarters to hide them
from the fury of the mobs. Through the hours of
darkness they could hear the shouts : "Killl Kill I"
and the curses of the guards beating back the angry
rabble. Before dawn the soldiers would call them
to start and got them out of the city before the
rioters were back again. Shaken by the excitement,
the shock and the tension, they travelled on, sick
and almost spent, with aching heads and still more
aching hearts, until they reached the town, where
they joined the other party of refugees. Here there
was delay, and news reached them of one group
after another having been murdered, some by public
execution, others in their own houses, and some by
the roadside.

52 SOMETHING HAPPENED

The mandarin's favourite subterfuge was to
supply a party with an official permit which ensured
safety to the border where his jurisdiction ended.
At that point his military escort would leave them,
but the mandarin whose territory they were just en-
tering was not officially informed of the foreigners'
presence, and would therefore not assume responsi-
bility for anything that might happen to them.
Such an inadequate permit must be refused at all
costs, and for fourteen days they argued the matter
out with the city magistrate, who was only too
anxious to see them off. The passport which Eva
French had secured, handing the party on from
Yamen to Yamen, was a help in forcing the hand
of a more cowardly man. At last he had no option
but to yield, and they started on the long, overland
journey to Hankow, which they knew must occupy
at least fifty days. They were only a few miles on
their way when a party of Boxers attacked them ;
Evangeline was sitting on the front cart and she
was the first to be dragged to the ground by her
hair, while her captor flourished his sword over
her. At that moment he sighted a box of silver,
which a companion had slit open, and fearing lest
others should arrive to share the booty, he flung
her aside, seized the silver and disappeared. In
that hour she realised the impotence of those who

EVANGELINE 53

kill the body to touch the calm of the spirit, for her
heart was flooded, and her mind garrisoned, by the
peace of God, so that she knew no fear. Later on,
as she thought of her many friends who had been
killed, this experience comforted her, for she knew
now the measure of their suffering, and had proved
the truth of the words : " He that believeth on Me
shall never see death."

For fifty days of heat, misery, unutterable fatigue,
hunger, thirst and rioting, they travelled across
China, conveyed as prisoners from city to city.
Sleeping in prisons, temples, or verminous holes,
they carried along with them a man in delirium,
a sick woman, and two small children, both of
whom they buried by the way. At last they
arrived in Hankow, accompanied to the very last
by Chinese Christian men, who endured every peril
and hardship of the road with them, and without
whose help their escape would have been impossible.

Hankow had been evacuated of all women and
children, except for the few who remained to nurse
the refugees, who needed to be fed and cared for
before they could proceed to Shanghai. For
Evangeline it was Shanghai and then England. It
was seven years since she reached China, and the
sobered woman who emerged from that terrific
experience was a very different person from the

54 SOMETHING HAPPENED

impetuous girl of 1893. She had tested her voca-
tion and proved it, she knew what she had to do,
and what it cost to do it. The romantic thrills of
new experiences were known for exactly what they
were worth. Now the so easily sung hymns and
the so glibly uttered phrases of missionary meetings
had been tested in the crucible of utter realism, and
though on the one hand, she did not so readily sing :

The peaceful joys of home behind)

Danger and death before,
EJght cheerfully they set their face

To seek the foreign shore t

yet experience had worked hope, and the old
pessimist Eva French was gone for ever, while the
new Evangeline could quite simply go anywhere,
dare anything or face any hardship - WITH GOD.

PART TWO
MILDRED

"... Why mine

Such fearful gospelling ? For the Lord knew
What a frail soul he gave me, and a heart
Lame and unlikely for the large events "

MILDRED

THE repercussions of 1900 bid fair to close the
door of China to Mildred Cable. Until then
all had seemed to go smoothly, but now, with
devastating suddenness, the purpose towards which
all her life had been set seemed to collapse, and
threatened to bury her in the ruins.

When she was still a little, solemn-eyed, fair-
haired child, a phrenologist came to her parents'
house and threw his eyes over their children. As
soon as he saw little Mildred he exclaimed senten-
tiously : " Here is one to whom faith will always
be difficult." A sense of disgrace seized the child
that this mysterious exposure of her inner being
should have revealed her as one so far removed
from grace. Not only was it said, but in the volume
of a book it was written, and handed over to her
parents, by the wise man who professed to look at
her head, feel its shape, and know all that was in
her heart.

She knew far more about faith and unbelief
than her elders suspected and about sin, judgment
and the terrors of hell too, because there reigned
supreme in the nursery, a woman of such theological

58 SOMETHING HAPPENED

acumen that matters of grace, salvation, heaven and
hell, held no mysteries for her. With admonitions
and warnings she tried to safeguard her young
charges from ever walking that broad and easy way
which leads to destruction. The thought that be-
fore morning she might awake in hell caused little
Mildred many sleepless and tearful nights, but the
prospect of heaven was not joyous, for there was
God to be faced, and His vigilant, all-seeing eye
would be a more terrible reality there than it was
even here. How many times she had coloured and
pricked out nurse's favourite text : " Thou God
seest me," and now standing in the drawing-room,
with the visitor's eyes upon her, she knew that her
sin had surely found her out, as nurse's other text
declared it would. This clever man with a mere
glance at her face had said that she would always
find faith difficult.

Fortunately there were some things that neither
parents, nurses nor phrenologists need ever know
about, things which belonged to that other world
into which she stepped when lights were out and
safe darkness closed in. Lying very quiet, lest
nurse should think she was not asleep, her spirit
roved, and her unconstrained imagination built up
a whole world of interest and of unfettered action
where there was free intercourse with an imaginary

MILDRED 59

set of children. This was teal life and all the
incidents of the day, with many matters of which
she had heatd casual mention, were woven into
her dream world.

Yet sleep never took her unawares without the
sub-conscious fear of that vigilant eye from which
darkness could not hide her, and the dread of hell
was so insistent, that her real prayer, which her
heart uttered every night after her proper prayers
were said, was : " Let me live till morning. Only
let me not die in my sleep, and wake in hell."

One night something happened, and, in a vision,
she was in the Temple at Jerusalem and saw the
Lord Jesus Christ who was there playing with
the children. They were having games with palm
branches, and He turned, looked towards Mildred
and called her to join in, which she did, utterly
happy, utterly safe and utterly understood.

She woke up a different child, and this vision gave
her something that has remained with her through
life. Henceforth, though grown-ups, with nurses,
might still distort the character of God and make
her prick out frightening texts about His watchful
eye, she knew she had seen the Lord Jesus Christ
for herself and seeing Him was to love Him. Now
she knew Him better than they did because she had
seen Him and spoken with Him, but it took he*

60 SOMETHING HAPPENED

many years to come free of feat and to understand
that God was revealed in the face of Jesus Christ,
and that the vigilance of His eyes was so tender that
not even a sparrow fell to the ground without Him.

Among the happiest memories are those of
summer holidays spent in the Isle of Wight where
the, children bathed, played games on the sands,
and attended delightful children's beach missions,
conducted by jolly undergraduates, who arranged
lantern processions, picnics, races and competitions.
Occasionally, but only when nurse was absent,
parents were induced to let the children sit on the
sand-benches and watch the minstrel performance ;
this also was sheer bliss, and the glory of one memor-
able day when Sambo, meeting little Mildred on
the sea-front, touched his hat and said : " Good
morning, Missie," was such as has never been quite
equalled in later life.

All too soon governesses began to take their
troublesome part in the child world, and with school
days a stern rule of life set in, interesting, but so
overstrained by the burden of extra subjects that
the heavy preparation required finally curtailed all
childish liberty. Games formed no part of the
school curriculum, and neither walks, sports nor
amusements held a legitimate place in a school-
girl's life. Even in summer holidays the children

MILDRED 6l

now had a governess who, as they said, " spoilt
every minute by her mere presence." Just because
Mildred was by nature so studious, extra pressure
was brought to bear on her.

She passed up the various grades of the school,
taking her share of prizes as she went, but the
pleasure-loving side of her nature was unrecognised,
and even the excursions or picnics, in which she
longed to join, were denied her on the plea that
she must not waste her time. She was in danger
of becoming a mere learning machine and might
have done so were it not for an irrepressible love
of enjoyment which, curbed in every form of
expression, forced an outlet for itself in the most
unlikely channels, making up by its intensity for the
smallness of its opportunity. The restraint of an
overdisciplined life released in her an abnormal
capacity for enjoyment, so that both in anticipation
and in retrospect such simple delights as the
memory of a spray of honeysuckle thrown across
a hedge, or the gathering of blackberries on
an autumn day, tipped the balance of pleasure
till it touched the index of pain. Imaginative
books fascinated her, but when it was discovered
how much the fairy tales entranced her, they dis-
appeared from the nursery. She said nothing, but
learnt to make up her own and, at the same time,

6z SOMETHING HAPPENED

learnt the art of guarding against adult tutelage
,the secret of everything she most deeply valued.

She was still in her early teens when she was
called upon to face life's greatest decision. It
happened thus: A Children's Mission was to be
held. It was an unprecedented thing in the town,
and among the children excitement ran high. Extra
work and lessons were willingly put in ahead so
that for this one week there might be a little free
time. The meetings began on Sunday, and after
a delightful afternoon of singing choruses and
listening to bright addresses, the children came home
to scent with dismay an atmosphere of disapproval.
They caught hints of " too much emotion," " un-
suitable for the young," " might lead to anything,"
and several parents agreed not to allow their children
to attend the mission. Only at the special request
of her clergyman was Mildred allowed to go to the
final meeting on the last Sunday afternoon. He
fetched her and brought her home himself from a
meeting which was a very impressive one, and on
the way he seized the opportunity of urging her
to personal decision. He was intensely in earnest,
and so was she, and during that quiet walk she gave
her heart to Christ and He bestowed on her the
gift of age-abiding life.

The experience was too sacred to be talked of at

MILDRED 63

home, but It found full expression in a weekly
Children's Service which grew out of the mission,
and which became one of the chief delights of
her life. In order to supply a need she taught
herself the harmonium and played the hymns at the
gatherings. She also visited absent members and
shepherded various small children to the meetings.

This coming to Christ was a confirmation of
Mildred's earlier impulse when she had so joyfully
run to Him that day in the Temple, in answer to
His beckoning hand. Outwardly there was not
much change, but inwardly her moral nature was
awakened to a completely new sense of right and
wrong, and the spiritual life which came into being
that day, was pressed into a deep, hidden channel.

The fairy tales which had been pilfered from
the nursery shelves by her elders, were replaced
by missionary books and some stirring tales of
Christian martyrdom. Mildred's faith fastened on
to these stories of burning enthusiasms, and she
mentally dramatised all the thrilling incidents ,of
those heroic lives, in imagination walking boldly
to the stake with her beloved heroine Cecilia, the
Christian martyr.

The tone of the town where she lived was narrow
and provincial and in religious matters denomina-
tionalism counted for more than vital Christianity.

64 SOMETHING HAPPENED

There was, however, one man whose faith was of
a reality calculated to turn the whole petty structure
upside-down. His life, time, talents and money
were used solely as a means of extending the
Kingdom of God. He would allow nothing to
stand in the way of winning men and women to
Christ, and cared nought for the artificial restrictions
which, as a clergyman, were supposed to be binding
on him. Whatever church, chapel or conventicle
held a man of God, that man was his brother. He
was one of a small group which some years
previously, had met, prayed, believed, and by faith
called into being that which was later known as
the Keswick Movement. Under such a compelling
manifestation of the spiritual dynamic,, denomina-
tionalism was doomed, and the tremendous truth,
" All one in Christ Jesus," was sounded through
the town.

The reaction of the small-minded and unspiritual
was so intolerant that the men who yielded them-
selves to the influence of God's Spirit had to with-
stand cold criticism from their own congregations,
as well as the aloofness of unfriendly Churches and
the sneers of scoffers. It was a sharp test and many
failed under it, but there emerged a loyal band of
men and women of all classes and sects who, being
once set free, refused to be caught again in cliques,

MILDRED 65

coteries, or ecclesiastical exclusiveness. They
trusted each other, worked harmoniously together,
and among these people the girl, Mildred Cable,
found herself, and made friendships which have
been lifelong and living.

For several days of each year a tent was erected
and a great convention held, to which all the
leading Keswick speakers came and declared the
counsels of God. Lives were revolutionised, deep-
seated prejudices went up in smoke, and men and
women were liberated. The memory still lives of
certain great meetings such as the one when D. L.
Moody compelled his audience to face the issues
of life and death; and a missionary gathering in
which Bishop Hill of Africa stood with a black
Christian brother by his side and made an appeal
which stirred men and women to such depths, that
they never could be quite so smug again.

In the summer of 1893 something further hap-
pened. Mildred was away on a delightful holiday,
but before it came to a close she heard from her
clergyman that a certain missionary from China
was to hold some special meetings in her native
town in connection with the China Inland Mission,
Something within her, an unaccountable impulse,
moved her to cut short the holiday, even though
she hated doing so, and get home in time to meet

66 SOMETHING HAPPENED

this woman. She did it, deeply puzzled herself
as to why she should take such a strange course.
At the first meeting she was introduced to the
missionary, a somewhat inconspicuous lady ex-
cept for a rapturous smile, a contagious zeal and
a way of talking about the Lord which conveyed
the impression that He was her constant companion,
and that every detail of life was submitted to His
approval. She was dressed with super^plainness,
and wore on her collar a woven inscription:
" Jesus He shall save." At the close she walked
home with Mildred, and in the course of talk turned
to the young girl and said with amazing daring :
" I think the Lord wants you in China."

"I think not," was the reply. "I have no
thought of being a missionary, but if I had it would
be to India that I should want to go."

"You must go where the Lord sends you, my
dear. If you are Christ's you must be His
entirely."

" Do all you China Inland Mission people wear
a text round your neck ? " Mildred abruptly asked.

"No, y> she said. "I do it because I always
wear it in China and see no reason for dropping
it here."

Mildred's unspoken comment was: "I suppose
it's all right for China, but I don't like it here."

MILDRED 67

No more was said, but the conversation made a
lasting impression, and Mildred was aware that she
had received an indication to which she did well
to take heed. She had never before heard of this
China Inland Mission, for it was not one of the
large denominational societies for which she had
collected money, or at whose bazaars she had helped,
but she now made it her business to find out all she
could about it. She was rather intrigued by its
unusual basis and peculiar methods, and impressed
by the so great confidence of its members in the
sufficiency of God, that they looked direct to Him
for the supply of their needs, and solicited funds
from no one.

A year later, when the Convention was held,
Mildred knew that the next step for her was to
publicly commit herself, and when the appeal for
missionary volunteers was made, she stood. Her
intense nature was one that could not tolerate a
feeble purpose or a divided heart, and from that
hour nothing was allowed to enter her life untouched
by its central enthusiasm. Everything was made to
converge on the one purpose of increasing her
knowledge of Asia, and of equipping herself for
every possible emergency of missionary life.

It would have been immeasurable gain to her
whole future if at this time her parents had

68 SOMETHING HAPPENED

listened to the advice of a medical friend who,
impressed by the too great seriousness, sensitive-
ness and responsibility of the girl's nature, took on
himself to urge them to give her one year of com-
plete liberty, to run wild on a farm. In their view,
however, it seemed folly to interrupt her schooling,
so the advice was ignored and life pursued its
strenuous course.

Mildred was still a schoolgirl when she paid her
first visit to the Candidates' Department of the
China Inland Mission. The occasion was that of a
half-term holiday, and with an exhilarating sense of
personal liberty, combined with vocational purpose,
she took the train, travelled to London and made
her way to the blank vastnesses of its northern area.
Forty-one Pyrland Road, Mildmay, was, as usual,
humming with life and buzzing with enthusiasm.
She was only there a few days but she thoroughly
enjoyed herself, and was thrilled because she found
all the great things which she had read and heard
concerning the China Inland Mission were true.
The simplicity of the house agreed with her notion
of the austerity to be expected in missionary life,
and she loved Miss Soltau who was superintendent
of the house. These holiday visits were repeated
periodically until she left school.

It was her mother's wish that Mildred should

MILDRED 69

study at a continental Conservatoire, but many
other things seemed more important than music for
a missionary career. Before, however, finally aban-
doning her plan she determined to settle once for
all the question of vocation, by allowing her
daughter to spend six months in the China Inland
Mission training-home. By the end of this time
she confidently hoped that the project would peter
out and that Mildred, having had her fling, would
fit the more easily into normal, social life. The
effect produced was contrary to anticipation, and
Mildred was happier than she had ever been, in the
cheerful, communal life of the missionary training-
home. The provoking of one another to greater
devotion, the constant meeting and speaking with
returned missionaries, the Bible study which was
full of fascinating suggestiveness, along with
the aggressive evangelistic work, made every-
thing seem worth while, and strengthened her
purpose.

At the end of the time, her father took her abroad
for a long summer holiday, and for the first time she
tasted the delights of travel. By the time she had
wandered through Belgium, Switzerland, Germany
and France, she had experienced enough enjoyment
to turn the edge of any mere girlish enthusiasm for
hardship and martyrdom, but Mildred Cable had

70 SOMETHING HAPPENED

not lost herself in the gaieties of the continental
hotels. Behind all the delight, the sociabilities,
the music, the paintings, the mountains and the
lakes, was still the figure of the Christ commanding
her allegiance and reminding her that these things
were for her use and her enjoyment as she passed
through, but that her hand was on the -plough
which she must drive in a straight furrow, with her
eye fixed on the objective, which was neither ease,
pleasure, fun, nor self-expression, but obedience to
His every command.

When neither the six months of probation spent
in a non-luxurious training-home, nor the tour
abroad spent in luxurious hotels, had choked her
off China, it was finally accepted by the family that
Mildred was to be a missionary. She was quite
young and there were still a few precious years to
be spent in preparation before she need definitely
' offer herself to the China Inland Mission.

She left home and became a student under a
pioneer woman scientist in London. The teacher
was so one with her pupil in the things of the Spirit
that she was prepared to do anything which might
better equip her for the future. A great friendship
grew up between them which has continued right
through life, and has been one of the most formative
influences on Mildred's character. Before long

MILDRED 71

Mildred went ,to live with her teacher and, under
her direction, she worked harder than she had
ever worked before. From Monday morning to
Saturday midday she was never free from lectures,
laboratory demonstrations and preparation.

Of set purpose Mildred Cable did not take a full
medical course, realising that by so doing she would
have tied herself irrevocably to the work of a
hospital. She believed her cal] to be otherwise,
and with her teacher's help, a course of study was
drawn up which would supply her with as com-
plete an all-round training as could be pressed into
the years she had to spare.

At that time North London was being stirred by
the ministry of a vigorous and eloquent preacher.
His name was suddenly on everybody's lips, and
on the occasion of a national festival Mildred went
to hear him. When every other preacher was in-
dulging in laudatory platitudes, this man chose as
his text : " The Offence of the Cross," and electrified
the congregation by his forceful contrast of the
claims of Christ with the pomp of the world. This
was talk after Mildred's own heart, and when she
realised his genius for Bible exposition, and still
more his unique capacity for inspiring his hearers
with a zest for studying the Scriptures, she attached
herself to this Church, and under his tuition the

72 SOMETHING HAPPENED

study of the Divine library developed into an
engrossing habit of life.

These were the early days of that great weekly
Bible school which still shows London that the
simple reading and exposition of scripture will
draw and hold a crowd. The live ministry was not
organised with a view to pampering an overfed con-
gregation, and the inner circle was expected to be
out on the King's business each Sunday evening,
seeking the lost and leaving room in the crowded
church for others to hear the Gospel message.

The most important of these outside activities
was carried on at Variety Hall, a building used for
music-hall entertainments each day of the week and
hired by the Church, on Sunday, for evangelistic
purposes. Mildred's first introduction to this
meeting was due to the accident of a torrential
downpour of rain, which compelled her to take
shelter on the way to church. Here she was at
the very door of Variety Hall with its bold poster
inviting all to walk in and listen. It was a large
building, filled with a miscellaneous North London
audience, in happy mood. Hymns were projected
from a lantern and the singing was hearty, familiar
! and lively. The atmosphere was distinctly mirth-
jful, the seats were comfortable, the lighting was
I adequate, the music was good, the addresses were

MILDRED 73

brief, and there was a good deal of personal testi-
mony. The workers were young, vigorous and
contagiously enthusiastic. The patter of heavy rain
on the roof made everyone more appreciative of
the comfort inside.

By the time the meeting came to a close the mirth
had given place to a solemn hush, and when the last
speaker made an appeal for personal decision for
Christ, there were many who rose and walked to
the enquiry room, where they were led to the
Saviour.

Before long Mildred Cable joined this evangelistic
band and gave her Sunday evenings to the work at
Variety Hall. These young people were inexperi-
enced when they started, but they did not long
remain so, and the minister exerted all his power
in their training. His Bible teaching supplied them
with as much work as they cared to put into it, and
on Sunday afternoons he gathered them around for
talk and conference. They were free to ask ques-
tions, argue difficulties and propound problems, in
fact, to say anything, in any way, which had reference
to the Kingdom of God, sure of a sympathetic
hearing. The group worked together in complete
loyal-hearted devotion and self-abnegation.

In this community the Church was doing its
legitimate work ; training its own missionaries, as

74 SOMETHING HAPPENED

it witnessed to the careless multitudes of London;
and from month to month Mildred found herself
better able to handle the weapons of her warfare.
Every branch of Christian activity was a delight,
Bible study was becoming a passion, and every hour
to be spared from her lectures was spent in a quiet
library with her books around her.

Six days of the week were, however, given to
laboratory and lecture^room where, from time to
time, there was the delight of listening to men whose
discoveries were revolutionising the thought of the
scientific world. It was all stimulating, thrilling,
exhilarating and alluring. In these circles also there
were congenial spirits, and at the Student Volunteer
Conferences she met with men and women whose
zeal and devotion powerfully impressed her. Life
was sheer delight, and service for Christ in every
department was its greatest joy.

Then terrible things began to happen. Like a
bolt from the blue came the Boxer outbreak in China,
and the murder of scores of missionaries. The
Press was wild with detailed reports of the horrors
which had preceded death. It was known that many
more Westerners must be making an attempt to
escape from the Boxers' hands, and the sufferings
through which they were passing were a nightmare
to dwell upon. She heard that the dearly-loved

MILDRED 75

i

missionary who had been the messenger to call
her to China was the very first to be massacred.
Friends and acquaintances were almost unanimous
in declaring that no right-minded parents could
ever consider allowing a daughter to go amongst
a people capable of such atrocities. Even the
usually optimistic Mission Boards were appalled,
and it was generally accepted that no reoccupation
of stations could be considered for years.
1 Under the stress of the storm Mildred bowed
her head and was silent, knowing that when God's
time came opposition would be overcome and His
will accomplished. At each crash she had had the
solace of sharing it with one who seemed to under-
stand, and whose avowed missionary purpose was
like her own, temporarily thwarted; but in the
midst of this welter of hopes and plans there was
one more blow, and that a soul-shattering one.
On a beautiful May morning, when the lilac was
in bloom, there was put into her hand a letter in
which that was written which made a goblin of
the sun. Unless she take a devious course, and
deny her vocation, she must pursue her pathway
alone. In one hour the brightest things of life
burnt themselves to ashes, and joy removed itself
so far from her that it took years to court it back.
It was the eve of an important examination which,

70 SOMETHING HAPPENED

if she passed successfully, would confer a coveted
honour, and for which she had been bracing herself
with keen zest. It was useless to think of attempt-
ing it with a mind rocking under such a shock, and
that examination was never taken.

From the supersensitive, over-controlled, too
intense girl, had emerged a joyous and keenly alert
young woman, who drank deep of every source
of innocent pleasure. That day she died ; and in
her place there was one who drew the protective
garment of complete reserve around her and shrank
from contact with her fellow-creatures, thankful to
be hedged in to a life of isolation, the more rigorous
the better, among people of an alien race, where she
would begin a new life and let the curtain fall upon
the past.

Suddenly the .political situation took a most
unexpected turn and by the autumn of 1901 it was
considered safe for a party of young women, all
of whom had been accepted before the riots broke
out, to proceed to China, it being understood that
they would remain at the Language School, near
the coast, until the interior of the country was quiet.

On September 25, 1901, Mildred Cable sailed
from Liverpool on the S.S. Majestic, travelling via
North America with her father, who parted with
her in the United States. Not until she was leaving

MILDRED 77

the shores of England did he tell her that at her
birth he had dedicated her to God for the foreign
mission field. It was a tremendous sacrifice to give
her up, especially in such circumstances, but
both parents felt that there must be no drawing
back from an offering which had been made and
accepted.

*

Twelve months later two mule carts drew up at
the front door of a North China mission station.
The travellers who sat in them were coated with
heavy dust, even their eyebrows and eyelashes were
covered with it, and the lines of their faces were
blurred. They wore Chinese dress, and they had
every appearance of extreme weariness. A voice
was heard calling out in Chinese : " The visitors
have come, they are here at the door." A moment
later Evangeline French came down the sloping path
to greet them and held out her hand to clasp that
of Mildred Cable. They had never met before, but
they were both people to take rapid impressions,
and Evangeline was saying to herself: "What
possessed them to send such a frail child to our
hard inland conditions ? She will never even stand
the journey." Then, after a second look : " She
has plenty of grit, though, and if she can only hold
out, she will make good."

78 SOMETHING HAPPENED

Mildred Cable looked up at Eva French, whose
portrait she had so often dusted in Miss Soltau's
sitting-room, and thought : " There's something I
like about you, you look trustable." Then, in a
wave of recollection : " But I don't think I will
ever trust anyone again." That evening Mildred
Cable heard from Eva that they were to travel
together to the province of Shansi.

After one day of rest, the mat-covered mule litter
arrived to take them off on the two weeks' journey
which was going to give them so many quiet hours
for talk. As far as they knew, they were to travel
together for two weeks and then part ; but it was fore-
ordained that this should be the first stage in a life
companionship. At the end of this journey they
separated for a time - Mildred went to give medical
aid to a fellow-missionary, and Eva wandered off
to survey the havoc wrought by the Boxer per-
secution in the Christian Church. There was sal-
vage work enough to keep her hands full, and she
went from village to village, strengthening the
battered believers. At the sight of an old friend
they poured out the whole story of their sufferings,
telling of those who had been tortured, and of
others who had been done to death, not accepting
their deliverance that they might obtain a better
resurrection. Some with whom she spoke 1 were

MILDRED 79

branded on the forehead with the scar of a cross
cut there by the Boxers, who always declared them-
selves able to see that hated sign on the face of
a Christian. She talked long and solemnly with
others who, in an hour of panic, had recanted or had
merely accepted a legal paper which secured them
temporary protection, which things, looked at in the
cool hour after the battle, had an air of compro-
mising infidelity about them. It was a sorrowful
pilgrimage among a desolated people.

In one large town she saw the public ground
where more than fifty missionaries were slaughtered
at one time in a wild saturnalia of bloodlust, by
the cruel Yu Hsien. Her guide was a Chinese
Christian who, as protesting prophet to his own
people, stood on this very spot every day and pro-
claimed Salvation through the shed blood of Christ.
She travelled the road whose dust had been crim-
soned by the life-blood of dear friends who, like
herself, had been attacked by the wayside but whose
deliverance had been through, and not from, death.
There was a holy spot where the woman, her friend,
who had also been used to summon Mildred Cable
to China, stood on the steps of her own court-
yard facing the furious mob for the brief moment
before they hacked her to pieces and threw her
body into the new Baptistry wherein yet no man

80 SOMETHING HAPPENED

had been baptised. Weary, heart-sick and spent
with overstrained emotion, Evangeline finally arrived
in the city of Hwochow. This house also was
shadowed with tragedy because the two English
women who lived there formerly had been massa-
cred, and the Chinese Christians had not recovered
from the shock. It was with deep gratitude that
both Evangeline and Mildred heard that they were
to live and work together in this town. In the
intense atmosphere of those first months friend-
ship ripened, and each found her companion to
be a woman with whom she could share the thoughts
of the mind and the aspirations of the spirit. They
were thrown into such intimate contact that they
had to share one small room until workmen
had repaired the rest of the house, but every day
emphasised the congeniality of their temperaments,
and proximity was no strain.

The task of reconstruction which lay ahead of
them was greater than either realised. In addition
to the building up of the Church there was a
gigantic task of pioneer educational work to be
carried out under enormous difficulties. One step
at a time they marched forward, sharing joys,
sorrows, responsibilities, disappointments and en-
couragements in the truest bond of close comrade-
ship.

PART THREE
FRANCESCA

"Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart
cannot be quieted till it may find repose in Thee."

FRANCESCA

EVANGELINE FRENCH was two and a half years
old when baby Francesca was born. The
mother being incapacitated, the buxom Flemish
girl Euphrosine celebrated her brief period of
authority over the troublesome child by shutting
her up in the coal cellar, from whence she
emerged black and tear-stained to find that a small
living thing with black, curly hair and a red skin
had arrived during her imprisonment. As an
infant Francesca was a complete contrast to what
Eva had been - a quiet, smiling, happy baby, she
lay for hours in her cradle and troubled no one.

Directly she could toddle Evangeline assumed
control of her, and with her baby sister as subject
she experimented on the bringing up of children.
She quickly got the upper hand of her small charge,
from whom she exacted absolute and prompt
obedience. She had carefully observed that when
Francesca's mother wished to be free of the child
for a time, she was laid in a crib. Now Eva wished
to be free of her. Down the lane was a ditch with
a magnificent growth of nettles. She thought the
matter out carefully and supplied herself with a

84 SOMETHING HAPPENED

copy of The Times, the sheets of which she opened
out on the nettles, popped the baby into the middle,
and then to her horror saw the newspaper divide
and the screaming baby vanish, to be dragged out
yelling and covered with nettle stings.

Under the superintendence of such a stormy
mentor, little Francesca grew up somewhat sub-
dued, and as soon as she was able to judge matters for
herself, she gave her admiration to all that was quiet,
calm and controlled. She was mentally precocious,
shy of strangers, and a great listener to the convers-
ation of her elders^ She was never taught to read, it
seemed to come instinctively, and at six years of age
she was reading omnivorously in two languages. She
soon found that if she was to follow all that was said
she must learn to make good use of a dictionary, and
in this way she managed to keep an fait with much
that she was never intended to understand.

At St. Omer she trotted behind Eva to school in
the morning, but in the afternoons nearly always
came back alone, while Eva remained behind
sitting at a desk writing out a French verb in all
its declensions :

I was disobedient to my mistress.

Thou wert disobedient to thy mistress.

He was disobedient to his mistress. ...

The glorious half-holidays among the fortifica-

FRANCESCA 85

tions were generally spent at the foot of a tree,
reading a book, while Eva risked her neck in
dangerous pranks. Both children recognised that
it was not safe for Francesca to follow her sister
in her daring scrambles, but on the other hand, she
had more concentration than Eva, and soon out-
stripped her at school. Her successes and prizes
were Eva's crown of rejoicing. She would tolerate
no slacking in her young sister, and waste of time
with girl companions was sternly repressed.

Each Sunday there was a French Protestant ser-
vice at which Francesca, because she was small and
smiling, was selected to take up the collection. No
one guessed that it was her weekly purgatory to go
from seat to seat holding out her little velvet bag,
because it drew attention to her, and attention was
the thing she most dreaded.

A new phase of life began for her when, at the
age of nine, the whole family went to live in Geneva.
Almost immediately after their arrival the autumn
school term commenced, when she took her
entrance examination to the Ecole Secondaire and
was appointed her place in a very large class of
children. At the same time she began music
lessons at the Conservatoire and life immediately
became very full, very busy, very interesting, and
very happy. The classes in a large public school

86 SOMETHING HAPPENED

pleased her vastly, and the competence of the
various teachers was stimulating to the pupils.

On Sunday mornings she attended an excellently
managed Sunday school for children of the pro-
fessional classes, but neither at day nor Sunday
school did she ever make the slightest personal
contact with other scholars. When her grandfather
died, her present from his library was a complete
set of Charlotte Bronte's works, and her Life by
Mrs. Gaskell. To a child so passionately fond of
reading this was a haul indeed, and she sat down
to read them through. Villette and The Professor
were the most easily understood, for she could
follow every detail of the school life they pictured.
Books were among the strongest character-forming
influences of Francesca's life, but none so definitely
moulded her thought as the story of the Bronte
family, combined with the portrait which Charlotte
gave of herself in her own novels. Looking back,
it seems that Francesca's first realisation of moral
strength was bound up in the picture of this woman,
in whom the forces of life worked so violently, yet
always under a disciplined and quiet exterior.

Even as a girl, Francesca apprehended that self-
expression may easily be a dissipation of strength
which, stored and controlled, might accumulate
sufficient energy to accomplish great things. Out

FRANCESCA 87

of this grew a sense that it was part of a private
integrity to avoid the exaggerated or inexact use of
words, nor would she give expression to anything
unless she could find for it the true, sober, correct,
honest phrase. As she developed, exuberance was
profoundly distasteful to her, emotionalism repelled
her, and such loss of control as a fit of temper was
a supreme disgrace. She never had the slightest
desire to be admitted to the parties and social enter-
tainments in which her sisters found amusement,
because these things offered no attraction to her.
She keenly enjoyed lectures, concerts, and above all
the opera, but social entertainments seemed to her
to require a contribution of personal vitality which
worried and exhausted her, and sent her away dissatis-
fied with herself and with the company which she met.
In the strong, puritanical, honest-thinking Swiss
churches it was accepted that the world of sinners
was separated from God by an abyss, the bridging
of which must be from the other side. The preachers
never indulged in misleading tosh, suggesting that
a sinner might find peace with God by way of
Nature's glories, the songs of birds or crimson
sunsets. Emphasis was on sin and on reconcilia-
tion through Christ's sacrifice for sin, but during
all the impressionable years no one ever approached
Francesca with a personal appeal.

88 SOMETHING HAPPENED

In the literary circles among which she moved,
her personal contacts were with those who wel-
comed vivid impressions for the sake of translating
them into telling literary form, but without the
slightest desire of transmuting them into a character-
moulding force. In spiritual things she feared this
above everything, realising the deadness of reaction
after emotion. Whenever she came to a decisive
hour when her spiritual being might have made the
great response to an approach from God, she shrank
back, saying to herself: " These are your feelings and
emotions to-night, but to-morrow you will wake up
a different person, and with your capacity for feeling
deadened by an abortive impulse." She knew her
own spiritual destitution, but she knew also that no
one could help her, for whatever she gained she must
get for herself, and that upon a bed-rock of personal
experience. There was, however, an undoubted
approach from the other side of that abyss, which
warned her spirit that it was made for God, and
would find no satisfaction apart from Him.

The plunge from stimulating Geneva to the dull
English town left her with a sense that the curtain
had dropped on most of life's interests. She had
only just finished her schooling, and was in the
midst of her musical education, but here there was
no means of study nor even a possibility of hearing

FKANCESGA 89

good music. There was no serious theatre, no
opera, no lectures, and no possible way of con-
tinuing her education. The outlook was dreary,
and the prospect barren.

Then something happened. It had been a day
of nervous tension ; Eva's despairing mood had
blazed out into a frantic outburst and every member
of her family had been involved in the wretched
scene,, Towards evening things simmered down,
and each made an effort to pick up the ordinary
trend of life. After dark Francesca slipped out
into the garden to recover her equilibrium, and to
ponder the seemingly hopeless situation. As she
walked and thought there was a sense of immanence,
and the spiritual suddenly became intensely real to
her. She felt that she was in for a decisive hour;
it seemed to her that the riddle of life could be
solved if she had the right of appeal to God, the
Controller of men's hearts. He could deal with the
thing impossible to her. She knew that if she left
this great matter unsettled now, the hour might
not come again. She was profoundly conscious
that she had no right of access to God, unless the
act of reconciliation had taken place. The old
warning was there: " It is all right for to-night,
but when you wake up in the morning you may be
a different person." Then her spirit rose to it

90 SOMETHING HAPPENED

and she said: " I am helpless about this matter. of
to-morrow, but if I am saved I must also be kept."
By an act of faith she flung herself on grace, and
found herself on the breast of God.

For an hour she walked to and fro, taking the
whole burden and laying it upon Him. Then she
went in to find the family circle as before, each one
occupied with his own affairs. She had no impulse
or desire to proclaim to the household what had
happened. A little later the family scattered and
she and Eva went up to the room which they
shared. Eva always expressed herself more easily
to her younger sister than to others, and now she
began to pour it all out, the gloom, the discontent,
the hopelessness, everything, everywhere, all wrong
and no possibility of righting it. At last she ex-
claimed: "I wish I could take the whole misery of
the world upon me and jump into the sea with it."

Something within Francesca said : " This is your
opportunity; if you take it, it will be the seal of
to-night's transaction ; if you miss it your chance
is gone." So she opened those reticent lips and
said : " You don't need to do that, Eva, Christ has
already done it on the Cross." Eva turned, stared,
and collapsed like a pricked bubble; then she said
lamely : " Oh, I didn't mean it that way."
; Nothing more was said, but a few days later

FRANCESCA 9!

Evangeline herself yielded to the claims of Christ
and became such a fed-hot propagandist that
Francesca's little rush-like witness sank into in-
significance. A little later she, with Eva, taught
in the Sunday school and visited in the slums,
but her Christian activities scarcely counted, so
completely were they overshadowed by the fiery
zeal of the erstwhile pessimist.

A year later a series of swift events scattered the
household, until from five members they were
reduced to two. The eldest sister married, and
shortly afterwards Eva, having been accepted by
the China Inland Mission for training, left home
for Deaconess House, Liverpool. Her mother took
her as far as London, arranging to spend the night
there and return next day. For twenty-four hours
Francesca was left alone with her father. On the
first day he seemed in his usual health, and next
morning he walked four miles, then came home
to lunch, but before he had finished the meal was
seized with acute pain in his heart. He went up
to his bedroom and with Francesca standing by
his side gave one gasp and fell back dead.

In that hour her God commanded her strength.

Francesca now realised that her place must be
at home, to live with her mother. After such a
complete break-up of the family circle, they both

92 SOMETHING HAPPENED

felt the need for a change, and as quickly as possible
they moved to Richmond, Surrey.

. *

Life would have tun in a peaceful channel but
that an eccentric old uncle decided to live with
them for a time. His religious life had been a
series of wild tackings, in the course of which his
craft had alternately touched the rocks of Non-
conformity, the deep waters of Brethrenism and
the shallows of Anglo-Catholicism. With the
death of his wife, the moorings which held him to
this latter shore slackened, and there were signs
of putting out to sea on a further venture. The
vagaries of his spiritual tacks were never so much
influenced by the attraction of any particular sect
as by the intense antagonism which he developed
for those he had already touched.

For the time being his virulence centred on
Francesca, whose peculiar detestability lay in her
ease of fellowship with Christians of every sect.
Once, in an unguarded moment, the term "invisible
Church " was used in his presence. He leapt from
his chair in a frenzy of protest, and snapping his
fingers loudly within two inches of the speaker's
face, yelled: "Invisible Church indeed! I would
not give you that for an invisible Church."

Francesca was giving a good deal of time to the

FRANCESCA 93

study of music, and was now a pupil of Professor
Michael Hambourg. This necessitated many hours
of piano practice, which became such an annoyance
to her uncle that he thought out a deep plan by
which his niece's music could be silenced, her
theology rectified, her unwelcome presence dis-
pensed with, and a quiet home secured for him
with the undivided attentions of his sister.

One morning he broached the subject : " Mother
Agnes of the White Sisterhood is a most charming
woman," he began. ** So quiet and well-bred "
(this with a vicious look at Francesca). " She never
raises her voice. All the sisters under her learn
decorum. They embroider priests' vestments and
polish the church brasses most beautifully. It is a
great favour to be admitted to the Order and the
privilege is only extended to women of good family.
It costs money too, as each sister supplies a dowry."
Then, clearing his throat, he continued : " If that
dowry were forthcoming, would you, Francesca,
like to enter the Order and devote your life to such
good works ? "

The generous offer was not accepted and before
long he moved on to the house of another relative,
while Francesca and her mother resumed their
simple, quiet life.

Of the various Richmond churches, the one that

94 SOMETHING HAPPENED

attracted them most was Holy Trinity, where the
Rev. Evan Hopkins was vicar. There was no
doubt that he preached powerfully, but he con-
stantly spoke of spiritual things in a way that
Francesca could not follow. She was touching
vital forces, but for lack of the key of understanding,
only received limited benefit from them. The key
was given to her when she went with Eva to the
Keswick Convention that same year. There she
learned this one thing - that she, in her tripartite
being, was the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and that
the cleansing and daily care of that Temple was
His responsibility, so that the service of God might
be performed there in a seemly and acceptable way.
With the illumination of her mind, the Holy Spiri^
ceased to be a vague, ghostly influence, and became
Master of the Temple.

She was only away from Richmond for eight days,
but she returned a new creature. She felt like a
person who had lived in a small, secluded garden
and who, walking there one day, saw a hitherto
unnoticed gate which, with the key in her hand, she
opened, and stepped into a limitless expanse, which
was all hers to explore, to occupy and to enjoy.
The power of this discovery was a new strength to
life. She reached home on Saturday evening and
the next day went, as usual, to Mr. Evan Hopkins's

FRANCESCA 95

chut ch. To her delight, she found that she was now
able to understand what he said, and from this time
his preaching was a great help to her. Every time
he came into his pulpit his heart was inditing some
great matter, and there was never anything common-
place, slovenly or trivial about his preaching.

Francesca was quickly roped in to help in the
regular channels of Church work. She was supplied
with a district, a Sunday school class, and, seeing
that her missionary zeal was out of the ordinary,
her name was put down as collector for the Mis-
sionary Society in a wide residential area. In none
of these activities did she prove a success. She
began to find that she was not cut out for a good
district visitor ; in Sunday school she was all right
with younger children, but it was a mistake to put
her to lead the Bible Class.

As for collecting the missionary subscriptions,
that proved the greatest catastrophe of all. It was
plain sailing where the donors were people who
gave willingly and joyfully of their substance for
the extension of the Kingdom of God, but when
she arrived to find some who had been more or less
coerced into promising a subscription, or had done
so on a wave of enthusiasm which had retreated
and left them stranded with an unwelcome obliga-
tion, she felt that honesty required her to say : " If

96 SOMETHING HAPPENED

you do not want to give, please keep your money."
Strange to say, many people jumped at the- sug-
gestion and subscriptions fell off appallingly. In
the end she felt she ought to tender her resignation
from this particular office, which she found was
gratefully accepted. It had been recognised that
if she held it much longer the loss in subscriptions
might be irretrievable.

The Spirit of God which bloweth where it listeth,
stirred Richmond through the Young Women's
Christian Association. The secretary, Jessie Perm
Lewis, was a soul on fire. The frailest of women,
her body seemed only to hold together just suffi-
ciently to keep her spirit from complete liberation.
She worked, studied, prayed and thought, then took
all the very best of her findings and poured them
out in the classes and meetings she took among the
Y.W.C.A. members. Needless to say that what she
sowed she reaped, and there grew up around her
a constantly enlarging circle of women who kept
pace with her and went on to prove the power of
God's Holy Spirit in every phase of life.

Things happened thick and fast, until the in-
fluence of the Richmond branch of the Young
Women's Christian Association was felt to the
uttermost parts of the earth. Souls were saved,
lives were changed, testimony was released, and

FRANCESCA 97

the fite spread as many of its members scattered
to earth's remotest bounds. The Richmond
churches benefited, but never acknowledged how
much they owed to the woman in the midst,
whose fervent prayer and ardent faith was bending
bows of brass. Francesca found her own con-
genial sphere of Christian work within this group.
The members stood by each other, and in speaking
together their conversation was more naturally of
the things of God than of the things of the world.
On the home side of her life she was associating
with artists and writers, men and women of all
shades of thought, some of whom were utterly ruth-
less in their rebellion against conventionalities, and
what they pleased to call the artificial restrictions of
conduct. Francesca moved among them strangely,
listening to their talk, joining with them in debate,
reading as widely and thinking more fearlessly than
any of them, for she dared to think of God. To
them she was a quaint Puritan, whose rules of con-
duct were laughable. She would neither go to
theatres, play cards, nor join in a multitude of their
ordinary forms of enjoyment, and a queer notion
about not travelling on Sunday excluded her from
many of their more interesting gatherings. She
stubbornly held her own with them, and solved the
intricate difficulties of the position by a simple rule

98 SOMETHING HAPPENED

of life : as a follower of Christ it was her duty to
associate with those who formed the circle of her
normal life, and part of her witness was to discuss
with them and allow her mind to think out
the problems which their conversation suggested.
When, however, they were bent on pleasure and
fun, they inevitably did things which, for her, were
questionable, and she must keep out of it or she
would be swept further into the stream than was
safe. Probably their opinion of her was best ex-
pressed in the words of a well-known man of letters
who, at the close of a debate in which they had been
set against one another on amoral question, fiercely
said : " The opposer of to-night's motion, ought,
in my opinion, to be burned for heresy at Smithfield."
In the early summer of 1900, when her family
were just beginning to think of Evangeline's first
furlough, the news of the Boxer rebellion, and of
her great danger, burst upon them. By June they
already knew that all the Shansi missionaries were
in danger, and after that, all the news that came
was bad. The China Inland Mission was making
every effort to keep near relatives informed of the
condition of affairs, and the newspapers were soon
giving a column a day to matters of the Boxer
riots, the reports of which became more and more
alarming. As months went by and missionaries

FRANCESCA 99

shut up in that province had no possible means of
getting a word out, their relatives could only pic-
ture them as enduring sufferings which would be
worse than death. Before long news began to
filter through that one and another of Eva's friends
had been massacred, and finally her name appeared
in the daily paper as one of the victims.

The weekly prayer meeting of the China Inland
Mission was a heart-rending gathering ; parents, rela-
tives and friends of that great company of men and
women who were in such peril, gathered together
in utter anguish of spirit. In some ways those
who knew that their children were killed were in
less distress than the others. ^ The anxiety was
almost beyond endurance, and the staff of the China
Inland Mission had to bear the strain of receiving
all bad news, and then breaking it to relatives. In
spite of Eva's name being in the papers as having
been killed, the secretaries of the Mission urged
her family not to despair of her safety, as they had no
confirmation of the news, and believed their sources
of information to be more reliable than those to which
the newspapers had access. Each day, however, hope
shrank, and finally the members of the family spoke
very little to each other about their ever-present
anxiety, for mother and daughter knew each other's
feelings to be beyond expression. One . Sunday

100 SOMETHING HAPPENED

Francesca was so conscious of peril threatening her
sister that she made a note of the date, thinking it
not improbable that she had been killed at that time.

Weeks passed into months and then, one morning,
atelegraph boy knocked at the door. Francesca went
to take the message from his hand, prepared to receive
the news before she conveyed it to her mother.
What she read was: "Your daughter arrived Han-
kow safe." Months later when they met again, she
found that her intuition of danger was on the very
day when Eva had been mauled by the Boxers.

Thus personal anxiety came to an end, but the
suffering which Eva French's mother endured that
summer was her death-blow, and from that time
her health steadily declined. The long-drawn-out
agony sapped her strength, and she was never able
to fully recover it. Moreover, the fact that Eva
was safe made her realise all the more poignantly
the despair of others whose children had suffered
cruelties never to be told in detail. The next news
received was that Eva was sailing for Europe, and
a few weeks later she was home once more.

It was a very much subdued Evangeline French
who quietly slipped back into the family circle.
She was suffering acutely from shock, produced
by the long strain of physical and mental suffering.
Looking into the future of her missionary life there

FRANCESCA IOI

was nothing there to buoy her up or exhilarate her.
Most of her friends had been cruelly murdered, and
shewas down to the dead level of stern reality. When
she was asked the question so perpetually and so
thoughtlessly put to missionaries on furlough : " Are
you not longing to get back to your work? " she fell
silent, for she could not honestly say " yes," and to
have answered " no " would give a wrong impression.

Whatever duty lay before her in China was an
unrelenting one, and she could but dread what it
might involve for her. Her physical nature craved
for rest, and her mental being for recreation, but
on the spiritual side she was not quite ready to
get enjoyment, or much help, from meetings and
sermons. She was replete with spiritual experience
of such depth and intensity that she only asked
silence and solitude wherewith to measure its im-
mensity, and the most recuperative period she had
was a long holiday in Norway, where she roamed at
will on a beautiful island in a lonely fjord, far from
claims which press upon the missionary on furlough.

She was fully prepared to go back when the time
should come, but now she counted the cost to the
uttermost farthing and knew that the hardest thing
which lay before her was not personal suffering,
but to be required to inflict further pain on those
who were dearest to her.

102 SOMETHING HAPPENED

It was a sad parting, for all knew it was unlikely
she would see her mother again, and it was tacitly
admitted that Eva was facing a life of utter lone-
liness, and one which was penurious in relation to
many legitimate cravings of her nature. Much as
her mother felt losing her, she had no hesitation in
giving an unquestioning consent to her return, for
she felt that this was owing to the Chinese Christians,
some of whom had risked their lives to save her ;
but after Eva had left, strength gradually declined.
Before very long she was walking among the first
shadows of that dark valley, where mortal dis-
solution prepares the spirit to be clothed upon with
immortality. .

All the self-control so laboriously acquired in
her youth now stood Francesca in good stead, and
she was the staff on which her mother leaned.
When she closed her eyes in death, Francesca was
thirty-four years old. A chapter in her life was
closed, one whole section of life's responsibilities
had been faithfully discharged, what the future held
for her was not yet revealed. At the moment she
could make no decisions, nor could she immedi-
ately pick up the thread of life. She must wait
until the next step was made clear, and in order
to gain time and strength for the further journey,
she disappeared into a quiet village for some months.

PART FOUR
THE TRIO

" A threefold cord is not quickly broken.*"

THE TRIO

FAR away, in the interior of China, Eva French and
Mildred Cable were living together in happy
companionship. There had been those who pro-
phesied trouble when one with so much driving force
was put to work with another undoubtedly character-
ised by indomitable will power. " When there is
serious difference of opinion who will carry the day ? "
they asked. Many watched for the inevitable clash,
and they watched in vain. Peace and harmony
reigned in the busy home whose two occupants
seemed made to complement each other. One contri-
buted a fresh fount of ideas, which the other tested
in the crucible of experience, and from the result
arose developments which were to the benefit of all.
A tremendous task lay before them. The awful
catastrophe of the Boxer outbreak had left the
Church paralysed with shock, and while some were
stronger and more robust for the experience,
others seemed unable to recover themselves. It
was necessary for the missionaries to stay in every
village, visit every Christian home, and spend long
hours in listening to heart-rending stories, before it
was possible even to begin with encouragement,

106 SOMETHING HAPPENED

advice of exhor tation. Eva French was at her best
in this work, and the experience which Mildred
Cable gained as she sat, a silent listener, was the
finest training she could possibly have had.

The two friends prayed, discussed and conferred,
and then decided that what the Church needed at
this time was the stimulus of a new step forward.
There were hundreds of girls in Christian homes
who had no hope of even learning to read and
write. As they went round the villages, the Chris-
tian parents begged for a girls' school with such
insistence that they yielded. The school would be
Mildred's special sphere, and with such an im-
measurable evangelistic opportunity she saw visions
of great things that might be. It was with reluc-
tance that she saw curtailment of the happy, free
village tours, but she accepted the exacting demands
of institutional life, confident that they constituted
her immediate duty, and set herself to the initial
task of training her first band of teachers. They
were all young women of exceptional strength of
character, each had a personal experience of con-
version, and they were to .her a joy and crown of
glory. She worked and they worked, and together
they carried to a successful issue a task which at
the commencement looked almost impossible.

In later years when visitors walked round the

THE TRIO IO7

large compound and saw the school organisation
working so smoothly through every grade, from!
kindergarten to normal training, it was hard for
them to realise that all this had grown from the
first summer school when Mildred Cable, herself
far from proficient in the language, sat with half a
dozen Chinese girls around her, teaching them the
first elements of arithmetic and geography, and at
the same time inspiring them with a great enthusiasm
for the task to which they, and she, had been called
together by God. For seven strenuous years they
toiled unceasingly and during that period the
Church grew exceedingly, and that other depart-
ment of women's education, the Bible School, came
into being.

Eva passed through that bitter experience of
hearing week by week of her mother's decreasing
strength and, before she was able to take furlough,
of her death. Eva's English home was broken up,
Mildred shrank from renewing old contacts, and
for neither could the thought of furlough be dis-
associated from pain.

When, after crossing Siberia, they landed at
dingy, grimy Liverpool Street Station and found
there was no one to meet them, and that no one
apparently knew of their arrival, they clung to each
other for protection in a whirling multitude, each

108 SOMETHING HAPPENED

one of which seemed so competent, so absorbed
and so bent on his own business that there was no
place for the two waifs who had even forgotten
their way about London.

Of course telegrams had miscarried, and anxious
relatives were keeping the telephone busy, trying
to find out by what Channel route they were to be
expected. It ended in Evangeline being carried
off to Mildred's home and Francesca being sum-
moned by telegram to come to her.
.

" So this is Mildred Cable ! "

" And you are Francesca ! "

The two women looked at each other with a long,
searching glance before which neither flinched from
the other's scrutiny. They stood in the porch of
Mildred's home, for, at the sound of the door bell,
she had rushed out to welcome her friend's sister.

Eva was fast asleep upstairs, exhausted by the
stormy night crossing, but a little later they were
all three together with a large family party. There
was any amount of lively talk, but three of the com-
pany were conscious that great issues were at stake,
and that this was a crucial hour.

Francesca observed, and saw that there was a
greater intimacy between Eva and Mildred than
she had ever yet met between two friends. She

THE TRIO 109

could not see them together without detecting a
deep and subtle understanding which indicated
oneness of instinct and purpose. " Such a union,"
she thought, "may, in God's hands, accomplish
so great things that there certainly will be inimical
forces whose purpose it is to mar the friendship.
I must be careful to have no part in anything which
;s calculated to hurt it."

Mildred knew Eva so well as to completely un-
derstand her feelings towards Francesca, and during
the months when such sad letters had come from
home she had shared with Eva the knowledge of
Francesca' s suffering. She watched them both and
determined that so far as in her lay, nothing should
be allowed which would cause pain to either sister.
"If our friendship reveals an exclusive element
it will bring unhappiness to both, but if there be
nothing of the kind, the relationship between the
three of us might develop and grow into some-
thing better than we have yet known."

Eva sat and looked at her friend, and then at
her sister, and thought : " If these two can only
get to know each other they will fit, but how easily
they may glance off, and never come into vital

contact."

From the first moment all three behaved with
complete honesty, simplicity and truthfulness.

110 SOMETHING HAPPENED

Fortunately for their future happiness no one
sentimentalised, and no one pretended anything
at all.

By the close of that long afternoon each one
knew that a big thing had happened. Three lives,
each one of which had been drastically disciplined
by a loving Father, were to be twisted by His hands
into a three-fold cord, which could not easily be

broken.

, t

Most of the things which Francesca French felt
deeply she never put into words ; among them was
the intensely coveted privilege of being com-
missioned to proclaim Christ among the heathen,
but she could never have borne to suggest that her
mother's life stood between her and a possible call,
therefore her desire had never been spoken. There
were, however, some things which her mother did
not require to be told, and she had made up her
mind that Francesca, at her age, would find the
mission field a trying place.

Therefore when she died, of set and deliberate
purpose, she left her a home with several years of
lease to run. It was her way of saying to her
daughter: "My child, you have fulfilled your
responsibilities, now do not take on yourself
hardships which will press on you quite differently

THE TRIO III

to what they would have done when you were a
young girl. Be satisfied to live in comfort, and
serve God in the state in which it shall please Him
to call you."

It was kind and well meant, but it was mistaken,
and the finger of God pointed otherwise. Some-
thing happened. As the mother lay dying a little
crack appeared in a wall of the house, which
widened and grew apace, so that when the end had
come, the owner was grateful to relieve Francesca
of the remaining years of lease, and set himself to
salvage the building. Thus, without having to
take any step, she found herself relieved of the
property, which must have been a great handicap
to her plans. Within three weeks the furniture
had been disposed of, and she was an unhampered
woman. After a holiday in the country she filled
up the remaining time, until her sister's furlough,
with nursing, which she loved as intensely as Eva
had disliked it.

The life of a hospital nurse was so congenial to
her that nothing but the commission to be a mis-
sionary would have drawn her away from it, but
there was one aspect against which her mind
constantly rebelled. It was to see patients come
and go, bear the terror and strain of operations,
descend to the very gates of death and no place be

112 SOMETHING HAPPENED

allowed for other than organised religious ritual,
in that tremendous hour. It was searing to the soul
of a Christian nurse, to have only surreptitious
means of speaking to her patients about God and
eternity, and no time or opportunity when she might
seek to lead the dying to their Saviour.

After the three met, still not a word passed her
lips about going to China but, during the long
minute in which she and Mildred Cable looked
into the depths of each other's eyes, unformulated
questions were met by unspoken answers, and she
was not surprised when, some time later, the
question was asked : " What about China ? "

Guidance had always come to her by way of the
strictly rational, and when the council of the China
Inland Mission wished to know how she received
her call, she could only answer: "God would not
have taught me that the evangelisation of the world
is the function of the Church, and then removed one
by one the obstacles from my path, if He had not
intended me to step forward in the way which He
opened before me." Some members of the coun-
cil seemed to question the definiteness of a call
which came so simply, but it was ever so, for her.
Direction was never given as from a glaring arc-
light, but by the glimmer of such a little oil lamp,
as threw a circumference of light, only enough for

THE TRIO

the next step. She was beyond the age limit, but
the way was made easy for her by the fact of her
good health, so that the doctor, while he was
turning down younger candidates, accepted her
without hesitation.

They certainly never styled themselves "The
Trio," and scarcely know how they came to be
called by that name, but in time it was evident that
by this title their friends referred to them. It was
undeniably appropriate, because the three people
were equally involved in the fulfilment of the com-
mission, so the Tiio they remain.

The Chinese had their own way of saying it,
and it leaked out one morning at prayer meeting,
when an earnest petition was voiced for blessing
on " our three-in-one teachers."

Later, when they went to Kansu, the City of
Prodigals had a saying all ready for them, for "to
stick like Suchow* glue" is the Central Asian
proverb which was immediately applied to the
friendship which bound together as one Feng
Precious Pearl, Kai All Brave and Feng Polished
Jade, to give them their Chinese names.

The journey to China was the first of many
delightful wanderings which they have since

* Suchow. Chinese name for City of Prodigals.
H

114 SOMETHING HAPPENED

enjoyed together. It began with a pilgrimage to
Francesca's birth-place in Bruges, then turned off
to Brussels, to Cologne, and to Berlin with its art
galleries. Moscow, which was then the city of
churches and shrines, held them for as many days
as passport regulations permitted, then came the
long, quiet journey across Siberia, and Francesca
had her first introduction to China in romantic
Peking. From here they plunged inland, and finally
the mule-litters swung into the mission compound
at Hwochow, which to Eva and Mildred was home.
A crowd of joyful converts was gathered to welcome
them, and to satisfy curiosity regarding " the second
Miss Feng," as Francesca was to be called.

She was now a member of the most Christian
household of which she had ever formed part.
The School existed for the sole purpose of educating
the daughters of Christians and bringing them up
in the fear and admonition of the Lord ;,the Women's
School bore the title "Bible School," and from
these two institutions there streamed out a con-
stant flow of Christian workers of every kind.

But it was not only the contacts of the immediate
household, but acquaintance with circles of fellow-
missionaries that amazed her by the undiluted
quality of their Christianity. They were kinder,
more hospitable and more unselfish than any

THE TRIO 115

people she had ever met. She observed in many
of their houses a motto hanging on the wall which
declared:

Christ is the Head of this House,

The Unseen Guest at every meal,

The Silent Listener to every conversation,

and the families evidently set out to make this thing
true; yet sometimes as meals progressed and con-
versation took its course, Francesca became con-
scious of an unwritten law, which forbade the
expression of anything to which anybody present
might not give whole-hearted agreement. Again
and again she began to say things with intention
to draw spiritual illumination from those whom
she felt ought to be her teachers, but a tremor in
the eye of her hostess warned her she was nearing
the rocks, and she fell silent.

She would look at the motto and say to herself:
" If my Lord were indeed sitting at the head of this
table as Listener to, and Sharer in, all our talk, how
freely we should express ourselves to Him, and all
of us would drop our masks and come out with
thoughts bolder than we knew we had it in us to
think." It was also among her fellow-missionaries
that she first learnt that timid phrase : " It might
be misunderstood ..." - such a dangerous point

Il6 SOMETHING HAPPENED

of view, it seemed to her, as translated into action
might lead one anywhere.

Strange to relate these same people were as bold
as lions in facing and fighting the cruelties, the vices
and the horrors of heathendom, and were prepared to
die for their faith. Yet among these were some men
and women of whom theworld was not worthy, who,
in the realm of thought, feared their own shadows.
She saw for herself that there was truth in what she
once heard pithily expressed: "The Christian army
is the only one where the soldiers are more afraid
of each other than they are of the enemy."

Great interest was taken in the reappearance of
Evangeline and Mildred, with a third person who
was sister to one and whose relation to the other
was complicated by the fact that, though her senior
in years, she would be her junior in Mission stand-
ing. Would it work ? Many questioned it. By
the grace of God it did work, and that not by reason
of similarity of tastes nor by easy yieldingness of
temperaments. There was unity in the deepest
things, but dissimilarity in most of those that
appeared above the surface. Without complete
mutual confidence and bed-rock sincerity, the thing
could never have been, nor would it have worked
if there had not happened to each one that which
made the will of God her final court of appeal.

THE TRIO 117

Gradually, and without any spoken arrangement,
the different parts learned to fit in and make the
best use of any resources of talent, equipment and
money which were at their common disposal. The
work was far too important to be held up, or even
enfeebled, because of some rigid or artificial rule of
precedence, and the communal basis on which the
three lived finally prevented any one from looming
larger than the other, as the talents, gifts and
qualifications of each were a common possession
of all. Concerning money, there was never a
question. It was a trust to be used as directed
by, and for, the Lord Who gave it.

They were all tough fighters for a measure of
their own way, but when any one of them saw the
other deliberately yielding her right, it so emptied
victory of pleasure, that she only coveted to have an
equal share in yielding also. The harmony which
has existed for more than a quarter of a century,
and the joys of friendship, have been Christ's
" hundred-fold more in this present," for the Trio.

They have often seen themselves depicted in the
similitude of the mule team, which has drawn them
over so many mountains, through such dangerous
rivers and across burning desert plains. The alert
beast in the traces gets the first flick of the whip
when there is difficulty ahead. She responds with

Il8 SOMETHING HAPPENED

a bound, but before the impetus of her pull has
slackened, the driver has touched the steady reliable
mule in the shafts, which can be counted on to
brace itself to bear the strain. Then the two pull
together to one purpose and one end, but without
the third mule, hitched so as to get an equal share
of the weight, the mountain pass would never be
crossed, nor the exhaustion of the wearisome plain
endured. The beasts of the team do not select
each other, that is the driver's business, as it is his
also to give the signals.

What a hardworking household it was, that
Hwochow Compound. Long before daylight the
first gong sounded, and everyone was astir. Break-
fast was before sunrise, and any chance of quiet
was gone by the time its two hundred members
met for family prayers. From kindergarten to
normal training-school they sat in rows, these
children of the Church. Some looked different
from others, different in type and in dress. They
"were the pupils whose homes were in distant
provinces, and who had been selected for a training
which was to fit them for the posts of teachers in
their own localities. The quiet, self-respecting
women students of the Bible school were turning
down the leaves of their Bibles, fearful lest they be

THE TRIO 119

so slow in finding the place, as to miss the first
line of the reading. In each of their hands was a
stumpy blue pencil ready to mark the passage, and
every face was intent.

There were all sorts of people there, but the most
weird were the patients of the Women's Opium
Refuge. Old Mother Ma marshalled them in like
a hen fussing over a brood of chicks. They were
pathetically anxious to do everything right, and
not to seem out of place in this wonderful assembly.
There was always some village mother spending
the night, and she looked with pride at the stodgy
daughter, who was probably the last in her class,
but destined, in her mother's vision, to a brilliant
career as school teacher.

Prayers over, the courts were suddenly alive with
teachers and pupils, each intent on her individual
business, and there was no pause till the bell rang
for mid-morning recess. At one o'clock the big
household ate, consuming a hundred pounds of
flour a day and revelling in the tasty messes which
were each one's portion.

The afternoon was more varied, games for some,
sewing for others, and classes for seniors. Teams
of preachers, the more experienced taking charge
of the younger women, left the compound on every
kind of evangelistic errand. To those who were

120 SOMETHING HAPPENED

the organisers and administrators the task was
never-ending. Who could calculate the extras, the
unexpected, the unforeseen incidents of each day ?
There would most certainly be a long sitting with
the Chinese pastor who asked help in finding the
scriptural solution to some knotty Church problem.
In so large a community there might any time be a
difficulty and a temperamental clash which meant
interviews, reprimands and exhortations. The mis-
sionary might be called to the bedside of a sick con-
vert, or even be summoned to deal with the horrors
of demon possession. Not till the gong sounded
" Lights out " did the buzzing hive subside into
quiet.

Through days, weeks, months and years the
exacting but joyous life went on. Each year saw a
fresh band of young women pass out to a life career.
Terms came and terms went with a regularity which
made time fly, and before she realised it the head-
mistress was receiving as pupils the children of her
old girls. Church conferences, baptisms and the
round of examinations spun by, but each year there
was some occasion by which it was recalled, some
special meeting or effort, when it was the mission-
ary's unspeakable joy to see those for whom she
had toiled and prayed, decide for Christ. It might
be young children giving themselves to the Lord

THE TRIO 121

before other masters had held dominion over them,
or grey-haired women who had stood all the day
idle, because no man had hired them, taking service
under the Lord of the Vineyard.

- - *

Full enjoyment of holiday is reserved as a reward
for those who know the grind of diligent toil, and
when the last examination papers had been cor-
rected, the last pupil had left for her home and the
last report been written out, then the Trio set out
to play, with friends who brought the same holiday
spirit from their own busy stations. They all
met in a little village perched high in the hills and
exposed to all the winds of heaven, or in a quiet
valley of water-mills where they laid aside the
exacting demands of their everyday task. The
freedom, the break from routine, the mirth of joyful
company, released the mind overstrained by too
great concentration.

One summer there was a five-days' retreat in the
Valley of Water-mills. Everything was done to
secure complete withdrawal from the ordinary
ways of life, and simple meals were provided for a
large party of missionaries who camped out in the
courtyard, through which the mill-race rushed. A
rule of silence was respected, and there was almost no
preaching, but much reading of the Scripture, leisure

122 SOMETHING HAPPENED

for meditation and opportunity for silent prayer.
There was joyful singing, and during the periods of
intercession the group was so gripped by the power
of the Spirit, that all were conscious of something hap-
pening, Something certainly happened to the Trio.

There was present a woman just back from the
distant North- West province of Kansu, where she
had glimpsed the magnitude of the unevangelised
areas. One day she voiced an importunate re-
minder of the great cities where the name of
Christ was not even known. As the prayer-
meeting went on, there was a mighty shaking of
hearts, and at the close all knew that some wall of
Jericho came tumbling down that day. The holi-
day over, all went back to work, but the claims of
that unevangelised land on the Trio could not be
stifled, so they bought a map of Kansu and put it
on the wall as a reminder.

Something had to be done, and someone had to
do it. As they mused the fire burned, and a letter
was written to the person who could best give them
the information they required. Their question was
this : " Are the conditions in the North-West such
that experienced, middle-aged missionaries, with
a working knowledge of the Chinese language,
would be useful, or do they more definitely demand
young people who lack experience, but have greater

THE TRIO , 123

physical vigour ? " The answer was unequivocal :
" Experience, in this case, is more valuable than
youth," and, strengthened by this confirmation,
the Trio forthwith wrote a letter to the Mission
authorities, volunteering for service in the un-
evangelised areas of China's great North-West.

It was the beginning of a correspondence dis-
tressing to all concerned. They were up against
one of the more difficult aspects of guidance, for it
seemed as though the people concerned were being
led diversely. This could not be recognised as a
part of Divine procedure, and the only way to
unmask the satanic deception was to stand still and
wait for true light to break through, show the path,
and unify the purposes of all God's servants who
were concerned.

For twelve months they waited on the issue,
unable to withdraw, because the hand of God
pointed onward, and unwilling to advance until
they could do so with the consent of those whose
authority they recognised.

Even though the correspondence was confidential,
the secret leaked out and many people took strong
sides, which only helped to confuse the issue.
Some wrote, saying in more or less parliamentary
language, that there were no fools like old fools.
Others asked the junior members of the party if

124 SOMETHING HAPPENED

they had visualised what it would be to have the
senior die on their hands, and know that they had
been the cause of the disaster. There were those
who simply received a superficial impression that
after twenty-one years of grind the Trio wanted a
change. The postman was busy bringing sugges-
tions of the varied spheres which they might fill, until
it became a source of amusement that they should
be considered suitable to such a variety of duties ;
but the manifold propositions, the insistent urgings
and distracting suggestions were enough to deceive
the very elect, and to wear out their tired spirits.

This year of uncertainty was spent in the valley
of humiliation but at last the consent they expected
came, and when it came, true to the courageous
lines laid down in the constitution of the China
Inland Mission, it bade them go forward and preach,
wherever God should lead them.

The Trio went forward, but the one place on
earth which was home had to be abandoned, and
everything which bore the value of association
must be handed over to others. The aged Chinese
pastor, on hearing the news, laid his head on his
hands and sobbed like a child. School teachers
were stunned, and converts begged the mission-
aries not to leave them.
As time narrowed in, the emotions escaped from

THE TRIO 125

control and everything was poignant. " This is the
last Christmas we shall spend together," " the last
time we shall see our courtyard vine inblossom," "the
last closing of term," " the last Communion Service ";
then " Farewell, farewell." It was over, and with
bleeding hearts they plunged into the unknown.

Immediately every manner of doubt was released
on them. Each indication of guidance, each lead-
ing was suddenly made to look trivial, uncertain,
unreliable. Every earnest of a commission ahead
was called into question and when, in the final
issue, one of the three broke a wrist, another
snapped a tendon and they journeyed on, maimed
and halt, they were utterly silenced towards those
who called it a fool's errand and who now might
well consider themselves justified by events.

It was well for the Trio that there were some few
who stood by them, prayed for them, encouraged
them and held over them the shield of faith.
Among these was one friend who seemed specially
appointed to strengthen them in their darkest
hours. Her friendship with Francesca was of long
standing and dated from a day when, sitting in a
shelter on a very lonely shore, she and her mother,
in pursuit of one of the long debates which their
souls loved, were turning a subject to and fro,

126 SOMETHING HAPPENED

trying, by viewing it in its every facet, to gain that
general aspect which would come nearest to the
complete truth.

They thought themselves alone when, suddenly,
an incisive voice cut into the discussion. It came
from a lady sitting at right angles to them, who was
hidden behind her own glass partition. She had
been a silent listener to the talk for as long as she
could refrain from breaking in. At a certain point,
however, convention yielded to compulsion, and
she burst in with an adroit rebuke to the younger
woman for what she was pleased to call her
"specious arguments." For the next hour the
discussion raged, for neither would yield an inch,
and an acquaintanceship begun under such propi-
tious circumstances could scarcely fail to ripen.
This was the commencement of a mental and
spiritual intimacy between Francesca and this lady
which resulted in great things for the Trio.

The Lady of the Shelter had a master mind,
dominated by the Spirit of God. Sternly limited
in her physical activities by ill-health, her body
was mostly tied to a sofa in her own 'comfortable
home, but her mind roamed among things cosmic
and aeonian. By the exercise of her powers of
spiritual and mental insight she was able to co-
ordinate facts which to the ordinary person appeared

THE TRIO 127

insignificant, sotting them and giving to each its
correct place in the general plan. At the given
moment the scriptural key would be accurately
fitted to the lock of world-politics and the ray of
light released by the most recent discovery of
science, so focussed as to illumine the Christian
path and the conflict which besets it.

Through the Babel of confused voices which
made it almost impossible to distinguish between
the suggestions of the Holy Spirit, the promptings
of one's own desire and those of other people's
interference, simple clear words came to the Trio
from this prophet of God, which restored order
and dispersed confusion.

I have seemed from the very first," she wrote,

to grasp the inner movement of your hearts in
the matter of your move to Kansu and have felt
its imperativeness. But then we share the same
spirit of prophecy, and that acts as an amazing
eye-opener. I feel the urgency of the currents of
spiritual forces set into motion by your message
to that province, coming, as it evidently does, in
a pause before a storm. There is something very
remarkable about this call -the place and the
moment and the quality of your triple service.
Evidently there are unique links here, forged back
in the spirit and brought forth now in the body.

(C

({

128 SOMETHING HAPPENED

There ought to emerge from this a piece of clean-
cut, apostolic work before the great trial comes.
Anyhow, you will feel full of confidence, full of
calmness and power, the Lord being with you and
with your hearers, to re-create souls and bring
them to the birth. ...

" These are days of fear. These are days of
psychic suggestion. These are days of old, old
bogy tales coming back to paralyse, to haunt and
to confuse - most of all to confuse. Satan makes
up old ghosts into new ones and people are mystified
and nervous, and it all helps him. Have none of
it 1 Our souls and bodies are redeemed, bought
back ; only the body is left to wear the veil so that
it should not yet see all things as they really are,
and thus have no need of faith. Satan will lose,
lose everything. Therefore we are free, and being
so we claim from God absolute freedom from
satanic tormenting, because Jesus the Messiah
reigns."

These were remarkable words to come from the
quiet surroundings of a continental hotel, the more
so as the one who wrote them had never set foot
in China. The reiterated message which she de-
livered at that time was the urgency of going
forward without delay, being neither hindered,
confused nor side-tracked. "For," she urc

THE TRIO 129

" you have barely time to fulfil your commission.
Commit it to God that you be kept from doing
anything, except to take His message to the people
whom He has prepared to hear it."

At that time the provinces of North- West Kansu
and Turkestan were the quietest parts of the Chinese
Republic, but she was alert to the first indications
of coming events and detected their inevitable trend
to be conflagration and revolution, with their hand-
maids, brigandage and massacre. By the end of
a decade it had all come to pass, and there are
thousands who heard the Gospel during that time
who will never hear it again from human lips.
They lie dead in razed cities and on Gobi battlefields.

There were three ways of travel open to the
North-West : by camel across the desert of Mon-
golia, by raft up the Yellow River, or by cart over
the main road. The last was chosen. None of
the routes were safe and the Chinese authorities
insisted upon military escort through brigand-
infested areas . Accustomed to thinking of j ourney s
in terms of days, it needed some adjustment to
realise that the carts in which they left the railhead
would, a month later, still be carrying them on.
They passed by many mission stations and at last
reached the provincial capital of Kansu. Here, it

130 SOMETHING HAPPENED

being the depth of winter, a month of halt was
called among fellow-workers whose kindness and
hospitality was a brimming bowl. In more than
one place the question was asked :

" What is your destination ? "

" We do not know," they answered.

" Have you not been appointed anywhere ? "

" No, not yet."

" Then may not this be the end of your quest ? "

" We have no indication that it is."

" But the need here is great, and in an area where
you travel seven days from one station to the next,
there is surely scope for pioneer work."

Everything their friends said was so true, and
so reasonable that the three women had not a
word to answer, and passed on feeling foolish and
visionary, yet knowing perfectly well in their inner
consciousness that they must courageously move
forward until they reached the place of God's
appointment.

One more week's journey brought them to the
furthest North-West outpost of the China Inland
Mission. At this point they looked out over the
land which separated them from the next mission-
aries, and that was two months' journey ahead.
The view was expanding, the horizons were
widening. Suddenly the fog lifted.

PART FIVE
AMONG THE PRODIGALS

" Something lost behind the Ranges, Over Yonder 1
Go you there I "

AMONG THE PRODIGALS

IT was midwinter in the icebound Tibetan passes.
The lamasery was set in a sheltered place, but the
gripping cold of the still air was intense. When
blizzard or snow-storm swept down no one ven-
tured out, but on this sunny winter day the young
Living Buddha, wrapped in his sheep-skin, sat for
a while on a boulder, sunning himself. He sud-
denly stood, startled, for in the far distance he saw
six horsemen moving in single file up the ravine,
and his eagle eye detected that they were Chinese.
" Not our own people," he murmured. " What
business have they here? This is no time for
collecting taxes. What kind of trouble can it
be?"

Three of his lamas were out feeding the vultures,
which was part of their daily duty, for the birds
of prey must be encouraged where it is lamasery
business to dispose of human carrion. They turned
back at the sight of the cavalcade, excited and
anxious, but reassured when one old man came
riding ahead, for they recognised in him a certain
farmer who often came that way to buy horses,
and who spoke their tongue. He shouted a greeting

134 SOMETHING HAPPENED

and all the red-shawled lamas came pouring out of
the dark hall and surrounded him.

" These men," he explained, " are not here on
official business. They are religious men. They
call themselves Christians and you have no need
to be afraid of them."

The Living Buddha was a quiet, courteous young
man and he gave orders for rooms to be swept and
braziers to be lighted. The horsemen were half-
frozen with the cold, but there was comfort inside,
sitting round the glowing firewood, drinking hot
tea with a lump of butter floating in it, and sharing
their own white bread with their host. The room
was packed with inquisitive lamas, amazed to find
that these Chinese men had come up to their moun-
tain-side on purpose to pray, and yet required no
lama services in reading liturgies or burning incense.

" We are not like you," said their leader. " We
worship the one living God, Who made heaven and
earth. He dwells in no temple made with hands,
and all these hills belong to Him." As the Living
Buddha heard these words he nodded his head in
acquiescence, dimly apprehending their truth.

This group of Chinese men were members of
a small Christian community in a city of the plain.
They had all come to Christ through the preaching
of the one man who was their leader, and who had

AMONG THE PRODIGALS 135

brought them up here to pray about the apparently
insuperable difficulties of the work which they
handled together, and to ask for help to be sent.
In the loneliness of these Tibetan hills they found
the quiet which it was impossible to secure in
the town, and as they prayed in the solitudes,
the answer to their prayer was nearer than they
knew.

Darkness closed in early those winter days, and
by the light of a little butter lamp this strange
group of Christians and lamas sat and talked far
into the night, and their talk was all of the things
which concern the spirit of man, and of THE
WAY, which is the only way of release from the
crushing wheel of life.

A few weeks later that same band of men was
riding out to meet the Trio who, following the
beckoning Hand which led them, were brought to
their very door.

The people to whom they came regarded them
as messengers sent by God to meet an immediate
need.

" You are the very people we prayed for," they
said, " for we felt it was experienced women we
needed, and experience does not go with youth.
Do this one thing for us - teach us the Scriptures."

For six radiant months men and women gave

136 SOMETHING HAPPENED

themselves unreservedly to the delights of Bible
study, and from that half-year of work there
emerged also a company who professed and called
themselves Christians and who, on the profession
of that faith, received baptism.

At last the long, happy summer drew to a close
and each knew that though this place had been an
Elim in the desert journey, the land they were called
to possess still lay ahead. There were many talks
and long discussions about that little-known area
of the unevangelised North- West, and all agreed
that the strategic base for forward evangelism was
the big town, one week's journey ahead, which all
caustically referred to as the City of Prodigals.

How quickly the human plant takes root 1 It
was a hard wrench to leave that happy community,
though but half a year had been spent among them.
It is a curious clinging quality of relationship which
grows up between the missionary and those to
whom he stands as personified Christianity. It is
lovely, it is pathetic, and it tugs at the missionary's
heart-strings, but let him dare to indulge it and it
develops all the horrors of parasitical life. When
and how to leave is the missionary's constant
problem. The babe in Christ so naturally and
normally submits every problem to his trusted
friend, but in its small measure the principle which

AMONG THE PRODIGALS 137

Christ confided to His disciples, holds good fot
His followers : " It is expedient for you that I go
away." Each convert must learn to depend upon
the Holy Spirit, to Whose judgment all appeal must
finally be made.

The threads were cut, the tendrils snapped and
the Trio travelled on to the City of Prodigals.
Here was virgin soil and limitless scope for the
legitimate work of the pioneer, which is to drive
the ploughshare through the tangled roots of
ignorance and superstition.

The time which had elapsed since leaving
Hwochow until this hour, was as a whole lifetime.
All through " yon huddled years " the way of life
had been as a path across a plain, with little to mark
the stages, then, suddenly, the road had turned and
led up to a towering range through which no out-
let could be seen. They had trodden the rough
stones of the foot-hills and nearly lost thek way
among the defiles, before the narrow opening of
the mountain pass had come into sight. Now they
suddenly emerged and saw all that lay behind in
true perspective. The clearly marked road, which
close at hand had been so hard to trace, was now
quite unmistakable. Ahead, too, there was a way,
though they could not quite see where it led.
That mattered nothing; the fiery, cloudy pillar had

138 SOMETHING HAPPENED

guided thus far, and it was easy to rest in confidence
for the future.

A City of Prodigals it truly was. There they
were sure enough, pigs and all. Some in satin
gowns, some in cotton coats, some wrapped in a
greasy sheep-skin, and others with no coat at all,
but, rich or poor, fat or lean, the stamp of the
prodigal was on them. They had reached the last
town of China proper, and called a halt through
sheer terror of the trackless Gobi beyond, which
might devour such if they ventured farther. The
prodigal has no nerve for loneliness, he prefers the
crowd and the jazz of the market-place. This was
a fitting sphere for three who, by such different
roads, had found their way to the Father's house
and had been mercifully preserved from settling
down and becoming " elder brothers." It was a
grand opportunity to hunt up wanderers who were
still feeding pigs in distant places and it was a job
after their own heart.

There was excitement in the town. The great
official who was there to guard the North- West
frontier from invasion, was going to celebrate his
seventieth birthday with becoming lavishness, and
entertain all the more stylish prodigals from every
oasis under his jurisdiction. He consulted their

AMONG THE PRODIGALS 139

tastes, and prepared for them the things they most
loved - riotous living and the rest. For three days
there was the din of jazz, the leer of painted Jezebels,
the excitement of gaming-tables, spicy foods and
abundance of drink. Into the midst of it all came
a band of Christian people whose arrival was exactly
timed to deliver a message to the concourse of
prodigals -a message direct from the Father's
house. Every date had so fitted that they reached
the place just in time to make up hundreds of packets
of Christian literature to be distributed to each
guest as the assemblies scattered. These guests
were pivotal men from every oasis within a fort-
night's journey, and when they travelled back to
their respective towns they took with them strange
books which tell wonderful things, and which
always and everywhere set men thinking. All
became cognisant that the One and Only God of
Whom they had but vaguely heard, now commanded
that men in this place, too, should repent and be
saved.

In the years that followed those oases were all
visited and revisited, and everywhere the preaching
band met men and women who first heard of Christ
at the feast, where everything had been prepared by
the Governor to satisfy the lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eye and the pride of life, but where they

140 SOMETHING HAPPENED

had also been summoned to the Great Feast where
they might drink of the water of life freely.

The inn accommodation of the town consisted of
half a dozen large courtyards, each big enough to
hold twenty travelling carts. Surrounding them
were rows of small rooms, with mud floors and
mud kangs to sleep on. Light and ventilation were
mainly obtained through the open door, because the
window was so small, and pasted over with such
dirty paper that it let in no air and very little

light.

Each evening at sunset, there was a rumble and
with shouts, curses and loud cries the cargo carts
of the desert, each drawn by four strong mules,
would lurch through the crooked doorway. With
guests on the threshold, the slothful inn-keeper
pushed aside his opium pipe and ran out with a
false air of alacrity, to seize a broom and start
sweeping up the litter which had been left in his
room by the last tenant. He flicked his brush in
a cloud of thick dust which his pock-marked assis-
tant laid with a shower of sprinkled water. It was
rough accommodation, but those carters had crossed
the desert from Turkestan, and they had no heart
to criticise an inn. The great Gobi had been over-
come once more and its dangers lay behind. From
whichever road caravans arrived they expected to

AMONG THE PRODIGALS 141

stay a week or two in the City of Prodigals to
unlade goods and take on fresh cargo.

These were the surroundings in which the
missionaries spent the first few weeks. The dirt,
dust, noise, flies and vermin were unspeakable,
but of all places in which to learn the intimate
conditions of the expanses beyond, this was the
best. Carters would sit and yarn by the hour,
of Gobi, Lob, Urga, Turfan, or Kashgar - names
associated with the romance of the East, but which
to them were no more than Margate, or Blackpool,
to/ the Britisher. With breathless interest the Trio
learned of the great trade-route system, its distances,
its resources, its dangers, its intricate, though un-
written law of the road.

Here nothing had changed since ancient days,
when man had, stage by stage, conquered the water-
less Gobi. The wells were older than anyone knew,
and where they had been sunk the track lay.

" Where are you from, carter ? "

" I hail from Kashgar."

" How long have you been on the road ? "

" It is one hundred and thirty-five days since I
left, and I only held up one week in Turfan and a
few days when a mule went sick at Baboon Pass."

" What cargo are you carrying ? "

"Raw cotton and dried fruits, but I shall sell

142 SOMETHING HAPPENED

them here and take on wheat. Grain is expensive
farther south, I hear."

" Is all quiet at the frontier ? "

" You may call it quiet, if you like, but rumours
are bad."

Little by little the Trio came to realise the tremen-
dous importance of this net-work of trade-routes,
by means of which the cities of Central Asia are kept
in vital contact with each other. The native news-
distributing system whose speed, accuracy and sim-
plicity baffles Western understanding might surely
be made a means of spreading the knowledge of
the Gospel, so that men on the market-places should
hear, not only the political happenings of Europe
or Afghanistan, but also that " Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners."

To capture these trade-routes for Him, to throw
up a highway for the Lord, to make ready in the
desert a pathway for God, became their ambition.
With such a glorious task ahead what mattered
physical discomforts, dirty inns, flies, blue-bottles,
mosquitoes, bitter desert water, heat and cold,
occasional shortness of food and a hard life ?

They blessed God that they were not held up
at this point by lack of language, or by want of
knowledge of the Chinese people. In middle life,
at the very time when inspiration flags and a cer-

AMONG THE PRODIGALS 143

tain dullness hangs over the horizon, the Trio were
given to see God's purpose for His servants, to
rise above the commonplace, mount up with wings
as eagles and take the long-distance view of the
plain that lies ahead, over which they must presently
walk without weariness.

It is very interesting to live in an inn -rather
verminous, but interesting. It has the charm of
the unusual, but when there is a message for the
townspeople it cannot always be delivered from
an inn courtyard. In a house the Trio could re-
ceive and return calls, and enter into the life of
the town, just as in the inn they could enter into
the life of the trade-routes. It would seem a simple
thing to hire a house, given the money with which
to pay the rent, but it only sounds simple to those
who do not know the difficulties. Landlords were
not willing to have their houses inhabited by
" devils," foreign or otherwise.

There was, however, one very nice haunted
house whose ghost had already brought calamity
on the family, and it was felt that if the Christians
would risk it, things might be better, and certainly
could be no worse. Ghosts usually choose houses
which are dark, dank, mouldy and rat-infested, but
in this case the scene of their pranks turned out

144 SOMETHING HAPPENED

to be an airy summer-house, standing in a flower
garden. It was quite new, for since certain strange
happenings, no one had dared to live in it. The
one room had a mud floor and two recesses with
a mud bed in each, large paper windows and a
big double-leafed door, so wide that a car might
be driven through it. The Trio took this house
direct from the hand of God, but with complete
understanding of the terms on which they held it.
As travelling Evangelists they were being provided
with shelter for the winter months, but it was not
to be a gin for their feet, nor a comfortable home
to lure them from the hardships of the road.

Immediately things began to happen; things
which were a definite indication that they were in
line with the will of God. There was the wife of
an artisan, whose determination to be a Christian
dated from the first time she heard the Gospel. A
tall Moslem woman, whose face was scarred with
lines of tragic experiences also came, heard the
preaching, stood up in the midst and declared :
" Every word these women say is true." From that
hour she became a disciple. Many men and women
came to service and listened gravely, and prodigals
began to come to themselves and start home.

The demands of the smallest Church can easily
tie the missionary to his station, but if that came

AMONG THE PRODIGALS 145

to pass the Trio would not be fulfilling the com-
mission which had called them across China to its
bidding. They needed clear directions, and clear
directions came. They saw they were to spend
the winter months of each year, when road travel
was almost too rigorous and caravans called a
halt, at the base, and that base was the house
supplied in the City of Prodigals. During those
months there was to be teaching and instruction,
and the remaining eight months of the year must
be spent on trek, leaving the Church to take care
of itself. So it came to be.

Beyond' the City of Prodigals is a stretch of
desert alternating with arable land watered from
the Tibetan Alps. To encircle this area a month
of travel was required, and it might well exercise
the best wits of missionary statesmanship to plan
the campaign of its evangelisation. On the material
side three sources of supply were essential: money,
food, Christian literature. The missionary base at
Shanghai might hold a banking account, but it was
another matter to find a means of transferring that
money to the interior, two months' journey away.
The Westerner who will go anywhere for trade,
is unable to do business here, solely because of
the difficulty of securing money.

It was the prodigal who came to the missionary's

E

146 SOMETHING HAPPENED

help. A smiling, but shifty-looking man would
walk in with a bag of silver dollars and ask a favour.
" I hear that you have reliable drafts by which you
can transfer money to Shanghai. Would you con-
sider doing me the favour of transferring a few
hundred dollars to a business firm?" Through
the medium of a reliable guarantor the transaction
was carried through, the dollars were laid on the
table and the radiant and trustful prodigal went
off with his cheque. Throughout all the years of
pioneering, money supplies were always forth-
coming in this way. They never failed.

In normal times the question of food presented
no difficulty, because the people of the country
were eating and living, and the missionaries had
but to adapt themselves to the local menu. Wheat,
millet and rice were grown locally, there was
mutton of a poor quality, eggs and good vegetables.
Fruit was obtainable between the months of July
and October, and in the summer there was an
abundance of delicious melons. Milk was an un-
certain quantity which could only be obtained when
a Moslem family decided to feed a cow. Sugar was
an expensive luxury, butter could not be bought,
and in deference to Moslem law any product of
the pig was debarred.

Second to none in importance was the supply of

AMONG THE PRODIGALS 147

books, but something happened in the offices of the
Bible Societies which moved them to dispatch
parcels of Bibles, Testaments and Gospels, which
crossed mountains, rivers and plains to reach the
City of Prodigals at the very hour when they were
needed.

It looked as though all that was required was
the courage to step into the unknown for, when-
ever they did so, doors, seemingly shut, yielded to
a touch. Perhaps they were marked with the word
" PUSH I "

t

There is one small key which unlocks the heart
of every parent. It is love for children and recog-
nition of their worth. Children abounded in the
City of Prodigals. Some did the daily shopping
for their mothers, others watched the stalls while
their fathers were busy with customers, and many
helped the family budget by hawking cooked beans,
peanuts, or dried melon seeds. Others wandered
about, basket on arm, collecting horse dung to
heat the family bed. In summer all went well,
but in winter, knots of tiny, underclad, underfed
mites huddled together in a sunny corner, waiting,
though they knew it not, for some disciple of
Jesus Christ to come along and care for them. A
Sunday service was of no use to them, even though

'148 SOMETHING HAPPENED

it took place in a tent, and was conducted on very
unconventional lines. It could not be free enough
to fit the mind of a child, but that question was
soon settled, for if Salvation Army methods were
required, Salvationists the missionaries would be,
tambourines and all.

The children loved the drums, pipes and divers
kinds of music with which the meeting was en-
livened, and the children's service became so
popular that it was held every day at sunset. All
the little vendors of food snacks managed to close
down business in time to be there, and the children
of the wealthy crowded the seats, along with the
boys and girls of the poor, with that magnificent
democratic and social ease which belongs to the
breeding of China's ancient civilisation. Where
the children came, their parents were irresistibly
attracted, and every night a picturesque crowd
gathered round the open tent to watch the children
and to hear the good tidings of great joy which
are for all people.

Even the suspicious, ignorant, illiterate women
crept out in the dusk to join the throng, and
found their prejudices melting away in the cheerful
atmosphere. The children's hymns and choruses
became the family songs, and many living-rooms
were decorated with the floral tracts which they

AMONG THE PRODIGALS 149

brought home as treasures. Before long small
callers came with the message: "My mamma
invites you to our house," and an eager little
hand would draw the missionary down narrow
alleys to the court where an excited woman was
boiling a kettle for tea.

As time went on there were some children whose
pitiful condition, or tragic circumstances, compelled
the missionaries to care for them in a special way.
The hardships of little children in that rigorous
climate and comfortless land of the great North-
West, is enough to stir any heart to pity, but it
was unendurable to see the army of homeless,
unwanted, little people who had to fend for them-
selves. A child craves for the protecting authority
of a parent to whom it can turn as its own limited
resources fail, but in the streets of all the towns
there were orphans or abandoned children, who
from the age of six had to be entirely responsible
for themselves.

The clearest guidance was necessary as to when
and how to help, otherwise the care of orphanages
would become the missionary's main work. It was
intolerable to think of children being frozen to death
at night, but there was a large barn on the premises,
the floor of which could be littered with straw,
and any small boy might take shelter there for a

150 SOMETHING HAPPENED

night, have a good bowl of porridge the next
morning and carry on his begging profession for
the day. There was a similar place for girls. By
the time spring came these sturdy little creatures
could look after themselves again.

Children undoubtedly have an instinct which
leads them to those who are friends, and something,
or Someone, told many a little fellow to knock at
the Christian door with the simple request: "Please,
teacher, take me in." The first child for whom
the Trio did more was a well-grown girl of eleven,
whose mother died and whose father immediately
sold her off to a brutal opium smoker. The ter-
rified child resisted. He beat her and took her
clothes away, whereupon she fled naked to the
fields, and hid herself in the tall sorghum. Hunger
drove her out at last, a Christian woman saw her,
and brought her to a farmstead where the Trio
were staying.

The new code of Chinese law protects a child
from being married against her will, but in order
to get justice, someone has to appeal to the official.
The villagers would do their part if the mission-
aries could arrange for the girl. This they willingly
did, and in a few days, clean, tidy and dressed in a
neat suit of dark blue cotton, little " Love Blossom,"
as they named her, mounted her donkey and rode

AMONG THE PRODIGALS 15!

to school, where a Chinese Christian teacher took
her in hand, taught and trained her. A happy,
smiling bride, she later married a Christian youth.

When the little slave girl, now called Grace, was
carried in on a man's back, she was so tortured and
underfed that she looked more like a sick monkey
than a child. A few days later her frost-bitten foot
was amputated and gradually life and strength re-
turned. For several years she was cared for,
educated, and trained, and now she also is a happy
wife.

These and many others would call themselves the
Trio's children, but little Topsy stands in a special
relationship to them. The first time she came to
their court she was thin and emaciated. Her legs
were bleeding from dog bites ; she held out her
hand for a morsel of bread and they saw that she
was deaf and dumb. Later on they heard that her
name was Gwa-Gwa - " Little Lonely 1 " Her
mother had sold her, when a mere baby, to a woman
who, furious at her bad bargain in obtaining nothing
but a mute, beat the child, tortured her and turned
her out to beg.

The father of " Little Lonely " was a Mongolian.
Her mother lived away in the Tibetan Hills, and
they met at one of those festivals when Mongol
chiefs go to visit the lamaseries. The proud

152 SOMETHING HAPPENED

Mongol rode back to his encampment, and when
lovely " Little Lonely " was born, her mother only
wished to get rid of her and never see her again.
The child had in her blood the pride of race which
could not tolerate the asking and receiving of alms.
When she was turned out of doors she knew she
must starve unless someone gave her bread, but,
tiny though she was, she set about to pay her way,
and when food was given, she performed some
small service in return - such as sweeping a room,
or cleaning a courtyard.

The angels must have led Gwa-Gwa to the Trio's
door, for that winter was so severe that had they
not fed her each day with some good warm food,
she could not have sustained life. When the time
came that they must leave home, the child knew
instinctively that they would be away a long time,
and she followed their cart mile after mile, until
she could walk no further. There was always a
pain in those missionaries' hearts on cold nights
and when cruel winds blew, for they thought of
" Little Lonely " and wondered how she fared.

A year later, when they returned, the first question
was : " Where is Gwa-Gwa ? "

" She has been to this gate every day to weep,"
was the answer.

Sure enough, at the stated time, the child

AMONG THE PRODIGALS IJ3

appeared, to wail out the prayer of her little
breaking heart. Lifting her eyes she saw, standing
in front of her, the women who loved her. With
one yell of joy the little beggar-stick went into
the air, and she was clasped in their arms,
i It was near Christmas, and Christmas Eve is not
a time at which to turn a friendless child away,
so she came to stay. Dressed for the first time
in clean, neat clothes, Topsy, as they called her,
celebrated her Coming Day, and became a child of
the house. Though dumb, she is never at a loss
to make herself understood, and if she is shown a
picture of the Good Shepherd, she will indicate
that this is the Lord Jesus who said to her three
friends : " Tell Little Lonely to come," Everyone
else had always said " Go 1 "

As regards the evangelisation of the Gobi oases
there was everything to learn, and the main street
of the town was enough to show what a problem
lay ahead. Bands of Mongolians wandered about,
dressed in multi-coloured garments, and wearing
strange head-dresses. They were an unknown
people to whom the way of approach had still to
be discovered. The Tibetan the Trio knew a little
better, and had already gauged something of the
simplicity of the tribesman's outlook on life. The

154 SOMETHING HAPPENED

lamas, both Mongolian and Tibetan, were a differ-
ent proposition altogether, and it was only the most
potent of spiritual weapons that would be effectual
in finding out the joints of their armour.

A whole quarter of the town was given up to
Moslem merchants, who brought the produce of
Turkestan, India and Russia across the desert and
exchanged it for Chinese merchandise. Pride and
arrogance was stamped on every line of their
haughty faces, and as the Trio walked about and
took knowledge of these men and their ways, they
pondered how and where to reach each of these
so diverse people.

There was far greater wisdom needed than lay
in them, and with a deep sense of insufficiency they
asked to be taught. Seeing that the task committed
to them was so vast, and time and strength so
limited, it was imperative that they should not
waste time on those whose hearts were like trodden
ground, in which the good seed could not take
root, but that they be led every time to the in-
dividuals prepared ahead for their message.

Something happened in the case of each of these
peoples, to throw open a door of access. From
Tibet came a lama, who, in an hour of difficulty,
was helped by the Christians, and the gratitude of
the chief of his monastery was such that he took

AMONG THE PRODIGALS

a long journey on purpose to express it, and to give
the Christians a cordial invitation to his lamasery.

The Prince of the Edzingol heard tell that in the
City of Prodigals women from the West had come
with a declaration from the living God. Courte-
ously, he hastened to send them a message,
begging them to travel up the banks of the great
river where he lived among his nomads, and tell
him what they had to say. They went as soon as
the treacherous river could be crossed, but when
they reached his encampment the kind old chief
was dead, so the word they delivered that time
was for others, but not for him.

From distant Altai a great Mongolian Living
Buddha, arrived on pilgrimage. Circumstances
made him a guest of the Christian community, and
before he left he wrote out a passport which
would ensure safety for the preaching band right
through his territory. " My people are wild and
ignorant," he said, " and, unprotected, you would
never reach my tents. Show them this paper and
everywhere you will be treated as my honoured
guests."

A report of these things which reached the
homeland, carried an echo of hilarity which, coming
under the eye of a critic, upset him very much
indeed, therefore he put pen to paper and timed his

156 SOMETHING HAPPENED

reproof well. The night it arrived the Trio were
sleeping in the open, there being no room for them
in the inn. It was bitterly cold weather, and to make
things worse a blizzard blew up. Their supper was
very hard to swallow, because it was made with bitter
water from a brackish well. Then a courier came
riding past carrying the mails, and handed them a
packet of home letters. They read one of them,
and found it was an indictment levelled at them for
some supposed absence of fundamental orthodoxy.
It seemed so unbecoming that, from the comfort
of his surroundings, this critic should be thinking out
reproofs for those who were in the uttermost parts
of the earth, calling sinners to repentance, in obedi-
ence to Christ's command. At first the dart stung,
but very quickly the Trio turned it aside, remem-
bering that this temper is peculiar to certain critical
souls who, like the far-famed " elder brother " turn
resentful at the sound of music and dancing. The
head of their clan, nearly two thousand years ago,
even dared to reprove his Father.

Each early spring the Trio remembered the terms
of their commission, and braced themselves again
to the fatigues of the road. Never was the garden
house so attractive as just when the trees were
bursting into leaf, and every year showed them

AMONG THE PRODIGALS 1J7

afresh what incorrigible home birds they were.
There had to be some stiff disciplining of the flesh
when the living-room was being denuded of its
simple comforts.

On trek all personal belongings were reduced to
a minimum, as space must be left for the Christian
literature without which the journey would be use-
less. A frying-pan, a kettle and one big pot made
up the cooking outfit, along with a little iron tripod
for the camp fire. Each of the three had an officer's
sleeping bag with blanket and pillow, and they
carried a small tent, just large enough to hold them.
Everything superfluous was simply abandoned.

The last evening there was always " luxury tea,"
a kind of farewell to the soft things of home life.
There would be chicken broth, and the flesh of the
tough old bird minced and rolled in a pancake as
thin as a sheet of paper. Then a blanc-mange made
from fine lentil flour and decorated with white of
egg beaten up with a little sugar and coloured with
vermilion dye. It was a meal to linger over,
knowing that it would be long before there would
be opportunity to eat so leisurely again.

Before dawn the courtyard was buying and
the large cauldron set on the mud cooking stove,
where the home-made briquettes glowed red, for
cook and carters always started on " luxury " break-

158 SOMETHING HAPPENED

fast. One kneaded the dough, another chopped
meat and vegetables to be thrown into the boiling
water together with the dough-strings, and a third
watched the pot and ladled out the tasty food.
Then silence reigned, save for the sucking sound
each man made as he crouched in his corner, con-
suming as many bowls of the steaming mixture as
he could possibly manage. They too pictured lean
days ahead, and stored up a memory of the last big
fill in the happy home. The mules champed an
extra ration of grain, a treat which the shrewd
beasts well knew foretold extra work. Carts had
been packed overnight, a business carefully and
thoughtfully planned, for each article must have its
appointed place, and every strap and rope must be
adequate to the strain put on it.

The Christian community always gathered to bid
the preachers farewell, and at the last moment the
carters stood, whip in hand, while the dismission
hymn burst forth :

" Guide me, Thou great Jehovah I
'Pilgrim through this barren land ;
1 am weak, but Thou art mighty,
Hold me with Thy powerful hand;

Bread of heaven I
Feed me till I want no more"

Ij8 SOMETHING HAPPENED

fast. One kneaded the dough, another chopped
meat and vegetables to be thrown into the boiling
water together with the dough-strings, and a third
watched the pot and ladled out the tasty food.
Then silence reigned, save for the sucking sound
each man made as he crouched in his corner, con-
suming as many bowls of the steaming mixture as
he could possibly manage. They too pictured lean
days ahead, and stored up a memory of the last big
fill in the happy home. The mules champed an
extra ration of grain, a treat which the shrewd
beasts well knew foretold extra work. Carts had
been packed overnight, a business carefully and
thoughtfully planned, for each article must have its
appointed place, and every strap and rope must be
adequate to the strain put on it.

The Christian community always gathered to bid
the preachers farewell, and at the last moment the
carters stood, whip in hand, while the dismission
hymn burst forth :

" Guide me> Thou great Jehovah !
Pilgrim through this barren land ;
I am weak, but Thou art mighty.,
Hold me with Thy powerful hand:

Bread of heaven !
Feed me till I want no more"

3

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AMONG THE PRODIGALS 159

As the laden carts lumbered down the main street
the Trio always stopped at the post office to see if a
night courier had brought mails, the last they would
see for many days. At the city gate the guard
challenged and was pacified with a visiting card.

As the early baker hooked his hot loaves from
under the smouldering straw, they emitted a smell
which none of the party could resist, and a few
hot loaves were added to the store. Now the town
lay behind, the rushing river before, and ahead the
open road once more.

Travel was always timed to suit the festivals and
fairs of the district which were often held in strange,
wild places. In the midst of one sandy plain was
a hill, which stood there so unaccountably that it
seemed like a great earthwork thrown up by pre-
historic man and clothed upon by the vestments of
the centuries. On its summit, exposed to the four
winds of heaven, and absolutely unsheltered from
the blazing desert sun, stood the temple, com-
manding an immense view of the plain. Away on
the horizon the fringe of green, which is the oasis
border, hid numberless farms, all of whose in-
habitants attributed their prosperity and peace to the
idol which lived in a dark cave where the stagnant
air is always laden with the smell of stale incense.

160 SOMETHING HAPPENED

The Trio arrived at the fair simultaneously with
the theatrical troop, for the yearly worship must
include the honour of a performance whose din
will be grateful to the mud ears of the grotesque
figure. Food vendors were already building their
stoves, and spreading out their wares, and every
minute some man, balancing heavy baskets across
his shoulder, would emerge from the steep path
and stand to mop the sweat from his brow. There
were many sellers of incense and of paper money,
which grown men shamefacedly burnt in the temple
courts. To each shrine was allotted some priest,
guardian of the gods, who tolled the bell, struck
the gong, chanted the rituals and collected the
gifts. In the centre of it all was the Christian tent,
in the shade of which men, women and children
took shelter from the burning rays of the sun.
For the live-long day there was no respite for the
preachers from singing, selling, talking and an-
swering questions.

The little sleeping-tent was pitched on the ridge
of the hill away from the crowds, in the strip of
shade thrown by the shrine of the goddess of
mercy. After nightfall there were stealthy foot-
steps, and evil-looking men crept like shadows to
and fro. The goddess was evidently giving shelter
to a small band of professional thieves who, like

AMONG THE PRODIGALS l6l

the missionaries, found the crowded places good
for business purposes. Possessions were few, yet
for that very reason the more precious, but the
Christian band need have had no fear; there is
honour among thieves and not a thing of theirs
was touched.

That evening, when the exacting crowds had at
last scattered, and darkness had rid the tent of its
last visitor and the shrine of its last worshipper, the
priest walked over to sit awhile and talk.

" You have had a long, busy day, Guardian of
the Temple," the preacher said.

"Yes," he replied, "and you also. I had no
time until now to come and listen. You are from
foreign lands ? Tell me what business brings you
so far?"

" We are servants of God, and have a message
from Him to bid men to repent. Where is your
home, Guardian ? "

" I, too, am from a foreign land. My mother
was a Turki woman, and I was born in Kashgar."
" What took you travelling so far from home ? "
" I always like to wander on far journeys, but,
as a youth, I joined the army of Wu Pei-fu. He was
a great war lord and I fought many battles under
him." In the dark the priest seemed to stir at
the memory of warfare.

162 SOMETHING HAPPENED

"It is a long way from a warrior's life to the

calling of a priest. Tell us how it came about."

" My heart was never quiet as a soldier, so when
I could get free I hastened to a temple, and there
they received me and taught me to meditate, but
now I always travel from shrine to shrine."

"Guardian, have you heard of Jesus?" the
missionary asked.

" I did hear of Him in a Temple, where a priest,
dressed as one of ourselves, told me that he believed
in Jesus and that He was the Son of God," he
answered.

" Guardian, you have walked so many ways of
life, but there is only one Way to God, and that
Way is Jesus Christ."

The moon rose and still the talk went on, and
it was all of God and the approach to God. Then,
without warning, and even as he was speaking, a
wild whirlwind leaped from the plain and caught
the cloth of the tent. For a moment all clutched
the ropes, then, as the wind's force tore them
irresistibly from their grip, loosed them, to cling
desperately to the beddings while the canvas was
lifted, whirled round and flung down at a distance.
In the general confusion and darkness the priest
vanished, and though in a few minutes the worst
was over he did not reappear. As he travels

AMONG THE PRODIGALS 163

some desert toad he will surely meet with Him
Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, for he
took His records in his hand.

A year would not have sufficed to touch even the
people of one area in their own homes, but the
fairs were a chance for broadcast sowing, and joy-
ously the seed was scattered. Thousands of copies
of the Scriptures were bought and carried off to
be read at leisure, how, where, and to what end,
the preacher might never know.

Sometimes a night was spent in a farmstead
within high castellated walls, whose battlements
bristled with stones laboriously collected and
carried there by the young men of the family in
view of possible attack by bandit or rebel army.
The heavy, nail-studded door was flung open and
all the dogs, the fierce Tibetan mastiffs, were
chained at the guests' approach, and fodder brought
out for their mules. Why such hospitality ? Why
such kindness? Unless it be the hand of God
moving people to open their homes and their hearts
to the pilgrim preachers, who everywhere found a
place prepared in which to pitch their tent, kind
people to help, and hearts ready for the message
they had been sent to deliver.

Strangers and of an alien race, they yet found
themselves admitted to family confidences, and

164 SOMETHING HAPPENED

made sharers of family sorrows. One night they
were guests of a village elder, who sat down and
poured out the troubles of his heart. His second
and third sons could never agree and one day, in
a rage, the younger threw an axe at his brother.
Terrified at the sight of his gushing blood, he fled
from farm to farm, till, reaching the town where
a famous brigand chief was enlisting men, he joined
the ranks of wild outlaws. The wounded boy
lived a few weeks and then died, and the whole
family was distraught with sorrow.

" I have silver put by," the father whispered,
" and can buy a man to take my boy's place in the
army, but how can it be managed ? If I appear
as a man of means they will soon send brigands
down here to loot my farm. If I hire my man
and take him with me they may keep us all three.
His mother urges me every day to go, and my
eldest son says the risk is too great and holds me
back." As they talked and discussed and thought
the thing round, the women folk came across the
threshing floor carrying trays of steaming bread
and fried vegetables to set before them. What
more could these people do, when the ambassadors
of Christ came to them for the first time, than to
receive them with such bounty ?

When the sheep were folded, the cattle fed, and

AMONG THE PRODIGALS 165

the evening meal was cleat ed away, the whole clan
gathered together, and heard the greatest things
they had ever heard in their lives - that for love of
the world, God sent His Son to save sinful and
rebellious humanity.

Sometimes these fortified farms seemed only to
hold barricaded minds ; the white-bearded grand-
father, leaning on his stick, had so accustomed his
mind to the rut of avarice that, when the treasures
of God were spread before him his natural reaction
was : " You can't eat it, you can't drink it, what's
the good of it ? " The old woman, his wife, would
scarcely turn her eyes away from the gleam of the
opium lamp which, for her, had become the focus
point of all that was desirable. Neither had the
sons room in their lives for a religion which re-
quires a readjustment of values, and might lead
to the loss of all things for the sake of gaining
the one, while to their young wives, fertility of the
body meant much more than the immortality of
the soul.

It was Easter time and spring weather had been
particularly warm, but when the Trio started on
a missionary journey to Mongolia, the Gobi brought
up its big guns at the first halting-place and blew a

l66 SOMETHING HAPPENED

terrible blizzard with driving snow. The sleeping-
tent was set up under great difficulties, and it took
the genius of an old desert hand to get the dung
fire burning and the pot boiling. When a hot-
water bottle was filled, Evangeline, as senior, was
allowed the first hug, but as it was passed to her, in
the dark, she gave a piercing scream of pain, for
the side of the bottle had burst and deluged her with
boiling water. She was badly scalded on arm, back
and leg, and the difficulty of rendering first aid in
a tent swaying like a ship at sea, working in a whirl
of mixed snow and manure dust, must be left to
the imagination.

The forces of the air were not easily appeased,
and swirling sand-storms held them up for several
days. As soon as these abated they started north
for Eyelash Oasis, travelling by easy stages and
halting wherever there was a group of farms, the
inhabitants of which would come out and listen to
the preaching.

As they journeyed on they turned aside on
pilgrimage to a certain lonely grave which lies
beyond the Great Wall and in open desert. It is
marked by nothing but a heap of stones and
could never have been found but for a strange
incident.

One Christmas Day a group of Chinese Christians

AMONG THE PRODIGALS 167

were talking together. One of them - a converted
Moslem - began to tell of this grave :

"About three hundred years ago," he said, " a
foreigner arrived here by way of Turkestan. He
was dressed as a Moslem, but the Moslems knew
well that he was not one of themselves."

Hearing these words the Trio became alert, for
they knew that three hundred years ago the great
Jesuit missionary, Benedict de Goes, had travelled
to Kansu, disguised as a Moslem, on his way from
India.

"What happened to the foreigner?" one of
them asked.

" He died in this very town, and the idolaters
refused to bury his body. There were all sorts of
stories, and some said the corpse was so heavy that
it could not be lifted."

" Was it finally buried ?"

" Yes, it was very difficult for the official. The
Chinese were afraid and the Moslems were sus-
picious, but the mandarin said that his body must
not be treated with indignity. In the end there
was a compromise and the body was carried out-
side the Great Wall by the Moslems, for they said :
' Though not one of ourselves yet he worshipped
One God/

"By this arrangement everyone was satisfied.

l68 SOMETHING HAPPENED

The official had done his duty, the Moslems had
secured an honourable burial to the man who only
worshipped One God, and the Idolaters felt safe
that the foreigner's spirit would roam in Gobi and
not trouble them. They call him the * Venerable
Foreigner/ and every year they still repair his grave
and chant a liturgy there."

This mound of stones in a wind-swept desert
was a monument more telling in its simplicity and
stark nakedness than any marble tomb erected in
a cathedral crypt.

At one very lonely stage the inhabitants had
dwindled to one family, for the wells were dry and
the only water supply was from a deep sand-pit,
at the bottom of which a little brown water col-
lected and was ladled out by the two small children.
The household was at the end of its resources, and
the mother was making an evening meal from a
handful of bran, mixed with the scraped stem of a
desert plant which is flame coloured and which,
though it resembles a venomous fungus, is quite
good to eat.

The name Eyelash Oasis must have been given
by those who viewed it from a distance and who
recognised in the long streak of blue water, bor-
dered by swaying 'poplars, a likeness to lovely eyes
fringed by long lashes. Just beyond is the Oasis

Lamas of the Edzingol.

AMONG THE PRODIGALS 169

of Heavenly Tints, after which ate the Gates of
Sand, where the traveller enters real Mongolia.
Here camels were hired, great surly, reliable beasts
which carry their loads so confidently over the
shifting, loose, uncertain sand. The wind con-
stantly moves the great dunes so that after each
gale the road is unrecognisable.

The Mongol landmark is the obo, erected
wherever there is a solid eminence. Viewed from
a distance it has a picturesque outline, but near
at hand it is a heap of sticks with bits of cotton,
locks of hair, stones and coins, a veritable magpie
nest. The obo is not only a landmark, but a
shrine, at which each traveller leaves some small
offering. The offering which the missionaries left
was a copy of the Gospel in the Mongol language,
which would certainly be appropriated by a pilgrim.
The landmarks were often very difficult to detect,
but the Mongolian knows where to locate them
and, though very shy, he is a kindly creature,
always ready to help the traveller, whose greatest
danger is among the sand-dunes. When the wind
blows, sand-clouds blot out the distant obo, but
the wary native has erected a bell-tower. The
wind keeps the bell constantly moving, and every
caravan leader knows that he must pass that
tower even if he climbs a sand-mound to reach it.

SOMETHING HAPPENED

What the bell-buoy is to the mariner, the bell-
tower is to the desert caravan.

The banks of the Edzmgol are covered with the
desert poplar, whose beauty of shape and .colour
makes of the place a veritable enchanted forest.
The overhanging branches, flowers and under-
growth of summer are only surpassed in beauty
by the golden tints of autumn and the flaming,
feathery growth of the huge tamarisk bushes.
Back among the tree-trunks, and hidden by rough
barricades of woven branches, are lonely Mongolian
tents. They are made of felt, with a circular hole
in the roof, and a doorway covered by a very
heavy portfire. Inside they are warm and com-
fortable, and the ground is spread with felt-mats.
Firewood being very abundant, there is always a
bright blaze in the centre, and smoke curls out
through the hole in the roof.

Three weeks of hard travel brought the Trio
to the prince's pastures, where his flocks of sheep
and herds of ponies, camels and bullocks grazed
at pleasure. Rangers galloped over the plain,
singing wild songs and rounding up the herds.

Near grass, wood and water, but at a respectful
distance from the royal enclosure, the missionaries
pitched their camp, and immediately sent off a
present to the prince who, it was reported, was

AMONG THE PRODIGALS 17!

very much pleased with it, and signified the same
by shooting upwards his two royal thumbs in
sign of approval. The offering took the form of
some good things to eat and some good things to
read, and next day, when they presented themselves
in the prince's audience tent, the books they had
sent him were laid by his side.

The tent was a very large one, and on the dais,
in the chief place, sat the prince. He wore a coat
of green brocade with a scarlet collar and high
leather boots stitched with many colours and turned
up at the toes. At the lower end of the tent the
interpreter, a Mongol-speaking Manchu, knelt
before his master. The members of the Christian
party sat in a row at the prince's right hand, and
to his left were various members of the household.
He shouted an order and servants brought in
parched corn in beautifully lacquered boxes, one
of which was served to each guest with a cup of
tea, into which they stirred the pleasant-tasting
meal. For a long time they sat and discussed
many things - the customs of foreign lands, their
governments, the missionaries' relation to those
governments, till, gradually, the talk concentrated
on the great matters which had brought them
there.

Immediately at his left hand sat a tall, grey-

IJ2 SOMETHING HAPPENED

headed Living Buddha. He was a travelled man,
and had heard tell of one named Jesus.

"I know about these three women," he said
to the prince. " They are unmarried and travel
everywhere, teaching their religion and doing
good deeds."

" Excellent, excellent," said the prince, turning
to the missionaries. " When did you leave Russia ?
What I not Russia? England, did you say?
Where is that ?"

" Their country lies beyond Hindustan," ex-
plained the Living Buddha.

"The books you sent me are very good," said
the prince. "I am told they are the same as
those read in Moscow. You have only one
stage from here to the Russian border; there
you will find plenty of people to follow your
religion."

" We have nothing to do with Moscow, and we
should not be allowed to cross that border," was
the missionaries' answer.

At this point the prince shouted a peremptory
order, and immediately a man in lama dress lifted
the curtain and came in.

"What is this; you told me these books came
from Moscow 1 " the prince fiercely demanded.

" So they do," answered the lama, " and they all

AMONG THE PRODIGALS 173

teach Communism. A very good doctrine too.
No rich, no poor, and plenty for everybody."

In this difficult atmosphere the preachers en-
deavoured to present the great claim of Christ, and
the prince nodded his warrior head in approbation,
while the grey-haired Living Buddha listened in-
tently and the interpreter did his best to convey
clearly the things which the missionaries were
saying.

Throughout the talk the prince's lama counsellor
sneered openly at the call to repentance and the
offer of salvation, trying to turn the chief aside
from even the consideration of that faith.

Hours went by and as evening drew on the Trio

\

left the prince, still in a bewildered frame of mind,
confused by the two great suggestions which had
that day been presented simultaneously to his simple
understanding. The one was the strange state-
ment from the propagandist at his ear : " There is
no God " ; the other was contained in the Scriptures
he held in his hand - a message from God Himself
offering release from the domination of sin and the
power of Satan.

A few days later they stood in the tent of a
spiritual ruler of the Edsdngol. The old, old
man sat cross-legged on the throne of the nomad
temple. He wore lacquer-like garments and a

174 SOMETHING HAPPENED

pointed yellow cap. The skin of his face was like
parchment which has been browned by centuries
of use. From his skinny fingers hung the rosary,
of which his thumb shakily counted the beads,
His trembling lips murmured the perpetual refrain
of lama contemplation : " manepadne hum ! " (Oh,
thou precious jewel in the lotus!). Before him
were spread out the insignia of his ecclesiastical
office - a bell, a drum, a bunch of peacock's feathers,
a rattle and a thunderbolt. Among these pitiful
toys he sat immobile as an idol, save for the tremble
of finger and jaw as he offered his ceaseless and
meaningless mumble of prayer. At the entrance
of the missionaries not so much as a gleam of
curiosity broke through the fog of his dull mind.

This man, though living in Mongolia, was a
Tibetan, and a few weeks later the Trio were among
the lamaseries of his native land, which train such
men as he to such an end as his.

In the glory of the Tibetan valley the fields were
blue with iris, the pine forests were carpeted with
flame-coloured orchids. Blue gentian, white edel-
weiss and every kind of Alpine flower was strewn
in profusion. The shy marmot played among the
hills and shaggy yaks browsed in the pastures,
while overhead the great white-headed eagle
hovered, seeking its prey.

AMONG THE PRODIGALS

It was the summer festival, and the mountain-
side was gay with bands of tribesmen dressed in
the brightest colours. The women wore tall
yellow hats jauntily trimmed with a fox brush
thrown round the brim, under which appeared
long plaits studded with turquoise, jade and shell
ornaments. They galloped fearlessly down the
hill-side, then leapt from the saddle and let their
horses loose for pasture.

In the midst of all this free beauty stood the dark
lamasery with high walls and gilded roof, built
so as to exclude God's glorious sunlight. Inside
the temple court, robed in yellow satin, a Living
Buddha sat to receive the homage and the presents
of his people. In the central hall gloom prevailed,
but the altar was bright with dozens of small butter
lamps placed before the image of the Buddha. All
around were heavy, embroidered curtains and the
pillars were swathed in silk. On either side of the
altar were tables laden with old manuscript liturgies,
chief treasures of the monastery. The school of
little lamas sat in a double row on the ground,
swaying to the rhythm of their own monotonous
chant. Their teacher, raised above them, periodi-
cally struck a gong, rang a bell or sprinkled holy
water with a bunch of peacock's feathers.

At midday the dance began with a procession of

176 SOMETHING HAPPENED

grotesque, repulsive and suggestive figures who
stepped, bowed, swayed and leapt to the measure
marked by the cymbals and horns of the musicians.
For hours the mummery proceeded, sometimes
quaint and queer, often reminiscent of things so
old, and so evil, as to have been mercifully forgotten
by the nations to whom the word " god " does not
mean " devil." The entire performance presented
an unabashed ritual of evil the only logical issue
of which was a night of orgy, for the satanic
merriment had not run its course until all the
senses of the worshippers were steeped in the
oblivion of satisfied lust.

These are strange surroundings for an embassage
from Christ, and nothing would take the ambass-
ador there except the knowledge that the lamasery
festival is the only occasion when he can reach the
Tibetan with the word of life. The illusive tribes-
man moves his tent so frequently, and guards it
so jealously, as to make himself practically inacces-
sible. To the devil-dancing everyone comes, and
there everyone can be approached - man, woman
and child.

The missionary must learn how to stand her
ground, how to use her weapons, how to meet an
attack, and how to conduct an offensive, fighting
decisively and not as one who beats the air, She

AMONG THE PRODIGALS 177

is there as a witness to the fact of God, to the
triumph of the Cross, and to the power of the
Resurrection, and hers is the solitary protesting
voice.

It is not to be imagined that she stands un-
challenged.

" The kingdoms of this world are mine, and I
give them to whomsoever I will," boasts the
arrogant demon.

" The kingdoms of this world have become the
kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ," the mis-
sionary answers, singing it aloud for the strengthen-
ing of her own faith; and even as she sings it she
sees right through the illusion which has captured
these people by fear, and retains them with bribery,
giving them all they best love - feasting, drinking
and lewdness, things so compatible with the worship
of Satan.

On the missionary herself there inevitably falls
an overpowering sense of helplessness in face of
such a display of evil, the very intention of which
is to convince her that she is engaged on a hopeless
task. " There is nothing to be done for a people
so degraded ; this is not the place to look for con-
verts. Go to some easier field. You will have
nothing to show for your work here."

But it is not the first time that she has observed

M

iy8 SOMETHING HAPPENED

the phenomena of light and darkness, and she knows
that the opening of a window floods a pitch-dark
cell much more easily than it illumines a dimly-
lighted cathedral.

She is there to open a window, and Jesus said :
" I am the Light."

PART SIX
AMONG THE PILGRIMS

: Speak but the word I the Evangel shall awaken
Life in the lost, the hero in the slave."

AMONG THE PILGRIMS

IN spite of racial differences and diversity of
national background, the Trio find Central
Asian contacts easier than those of the West. Per-
haps they have lived too much out of England, but
in the West they find themselves craving for the
natural, spontaneous approach, which is so easy in
a land of spaces, where life has not yet speeded up
to the exclusion of roadside intercourse. It does
not seem strange to any Central Asian wayfarer
that someone should have travelled thousands of
miles on purpose to talk with him about things of
the spirit, and why should it? He knows that
men travel far to sell their goods, and to trade in
pelts, all of which things are obviously so much
less important. The merchant knows how to seek
contacts which lead to business ; but the preacher is
dependent on Divine guidance for the contacts
which are going to release those whom Satan hath
bound, and apart from that guidance he will waste
his time. The directions must be explicit and
every step must be ordered, otherwise preacher
and hearer will miss one another.
The pilgrim had come from the other end of

182 SOMETHING HAPPENED

China, and the Trio had pitched their tent on
the threshing floor, where the crowds could
conveniently gather for the preaching, but the
travelling lama knew nothing about this. He
was tired with the day's march, and sat behind a
wall, looking round for the sign of a temple where
he might spend the night. They were con-
strained to leave the threshing floor for a short
walk, and there they found him :
" Lama, you look tired. Have you come far ? "
" I have walked for eight months to get here,"
he said.

" And where do you come from ? "
" I have come from the East seeking the land
where the sun sets, and where God is."

By this time they were sitting together on the
crumbling earth-mound, behind which rose the
high city wall golden in the rays of the setting
sun. The turret guard-house was silhouetted
against the light blue sky, and the sentry leaned
over the battlement and looked down upon them. ..
" If it be God that you are seeking, why go to
the land of the setting sun ? "
" Because they say that He dwells there."
" Lama, God is not far from any one of us."
And so how naturally did they preach unto him
Jesus.

"Pilgrim, what do you seek ?"
"I seek the remission of my sins,"

AMONG THE PILGRIMS 183

It could not be by chance that they made contacts
with so many pilgrims. There was one morning,
when out much earlier than usual from the inn
courtyard, they passed a spring and heard the sound
of a Tibetan prayer coming from under the rock
where the little crystal pool lay. They looked
down and met the eyes of a Tibetan who, as he
lifted each cup of water, murmured a blessing.
He was so much surprised to see Western women
in Chinese dress watching him, that the words of
blessing died on his lips.

" Who are you, and from what land have you
come ? " was his question.

" Lama, we have come half across the earth with
a message from God to you."

With the deepest solemnity he listened to the
story, followed them home, and, as the Tibetan
copy of Mark's Gospel was put in his hands, bent
his head until his forehead rested on the sacred
volume. Later, they met him in another town
and he came daily to hear more, but when a brigand
army surrounded the place he fled for his life to
the Tibetan mountains, taking that Gospel with
him.

On the high roads of the North-West are pilgrims
who visit all the most sacred shrines of the country,
prostrating themselves in the dust as they go.

(C

(t

184 SOMETHING HAPPENED

" Venerable traveller, how long is it since you
started on pilgrimage ? " the Trio will ask.

"I have wandered for five years," the answer
may be.

And what do you seek ? "

I seek the remission of my sins."

"Have you found the remission of your
sins ? "

" I don't know; when I am dead I shall know."

How often does this terrible answer come from
the lips of the women who are working out life-
long vows of abstinence and asceticism. Every
day at dawn they are burning incense before the
idols of the family shrine, and every night the
sound of tinkling bells can be heard, while the
smoke of incense rises. Their food is rice, un-
flavoured by any of the condiments which make
it palatable, and life for them is one long, rigorous
self-denial. To the question : " Why such hard-
ness ? " the answer always is : " That I may obtain
the remission of sins," and to the further question :
" Is your sin remitted ? " "I do not know ; when
I am dead I shall know."

What are these sins which send men and women
on such strenuous quests ? They are not troubled
concerning the root principle of sin, which separates
man from God, but merely by its fruits, those deeds

AMONG THE PILGRIMS 185

which every man's conscience condemns and which
steal from him his peace of mind.

These gentle women will lead one to the Courts
of Hell in the Buddhist Temple, where the tortures
which await the soul are so realistically portrayed.
There the judge presides, scales in hand, and with
cold, relentless justice pronounces judgment and
hands over the shrinking soul to his minions.
Here it meets the retribution for lust, lying, cruelty
and murder. On and on it passes from torture
to torture, through those dread precincts till at
last it emerges, ready for a new incarnation which
will be on a higher or lower scale according to
deserts.

" Do you see that bridge, teacher ? " pointing
to a narrow plank on which little figures stand
looking from the giddy height into the torture
pool of blood below. " If I deny myself enough
and hold all desire in check, I shall pass safely over
the plank when my turn comes, and escape the
tortures of that court."

" I would walk from here to Lhassa," exclaimed
a tall, powerful soldier when he had talked with
the Christian missionaries of sin, righteousness and
judgment, " if by that means I could wash from
these hands the stain of the blood which they have
shed." If they had dared to meet that man with

l86 SOMETHING HAPPENED

any demand, however severe, upon his own re-
sources, no sacrifice would have been too great,
no effort too exacting, no price too heavy, with
which to buy his own salvation.

The stern exclusiveness of the Christian claim
is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, to
the all-embracing pantheism of the disciple of
Buddha, and the declaration : " There is none
other Name given among men whereby we must
be saved" is a hard word for those who have
laboured strenuously to prepare a path for their
own feet, which should lead them to Paradise.

Just behind the Courts of Hell is the priest's
living-room, and there is the grinding stone where
his wheat is ground to flour. Each early morning
a little donkey is led out by the small acolyte, who
carefully blindfolds and harnesses it to the pole
by which the heavy stone is turned. All through
the day it treads the circle of its restricted path,
sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, sometimes
goaded by a whip, sometimes hurried by a flying
stone. 'When evening comes it is unhitched, the
blinder removed and now, in spite of the efforts,
the fatigues and the sweat of the day, the ass is
still at the identical place from which it started.

A good enough trick wherewith to cheat work
out of a donkey, but what of the men who even

AMONG THE PILGRIMS 187

so tread out life's journey, some more quickly, some
more slowly, some trying to accomplish a great deal,
others letting life slip by ? To their captor it matters
little how they spend the hours, so long as they never
leave the circle. Only they must be blindfolded,
lest they catch sight of the Door which is the Way
of escape from the earth-bound circle and the
entrance to the straight Road which leads to God.
The god of this world hath blinded their minds.

The evangelist, entrusted with the message of
reconciliation, would be utterly baffled, were it not
that the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.
When he indicates the Way of release, and points
out the Path of Life, the spirit of man knows. His
head may forget, his soul be atrophied, submerged
or practically non-existent, but the spirit knows,
and the preacher stakes his all on that.

*

The land introduces one but gradually to its
desert terrors. Otherwise one might not be able
to bear them. First, there came an unexpected
stretch of sand-hills through which it seemed im-
possible to drag the reluctant cartwheels, but the
driver made little of it. " The oasis lies behind
that further dune -a stiff pull, but it's only a
mile after all." Sure enough, as suddenly as it
appeared, the sand tract stopped and green fields

l88 SOMETHING HAPPENED

lay beyond, but you have had your first taste of
the desolating wilderness the encroaching greed of
which is always trying to win back the land, which
the ancient oasis maker tore from its grasp.

When the ravening waste next lies across your
path the driver speaks differently : " The next stage
is a hard one. It will be as much as the carts can
manage -loose grit for ten miles, then the road
hardens, but all the thirty miles there is no water
and therefore no rest. We will make a night
journey of it." This is a new experience, and with
interest one begins to learn the lore of night travel.
"We shall start one hour before sunset," is the
carters' dictum, and by that time everything is
ready. Men and beasts are fortified with as large
a meal as they can manage, each man's water gourd
is filled, the carts are packed and roped with special
care, and the party makes a cheerful start.

Immediately after sunset an ominous chill spreads
through the dry air, and by dark each one, even on
a summer night, has put on his warmest covering.
The stars swing round the firmament, and soon the
moon is up. Silence settles on the whole party,
but no sleep, for the Gobi has taken you in hand
and commands your attention. The mules know
that their business is to step out and endure the
inevitable fatigue and thirst. The carters, dumb

AMONG THE PILGRIMS 189

as their teams, tramp in the starlight with sure feet.
The traveller, if his line of communication with
God be open, sits in a rapt sense of the Divine
which checks the instinct of self-expression and
commands the tense silence of utmost reverence.
This is the hour when the quiet spirit takes control
of the self-expressive soul. Time passes, the moon
sets, the morning star rises, then the first streak
of dawn shows in the east and with a burst
the sun is up. "We are there," shouts the
carter, and behold, a clump of trees, a wide en-
closure with spacious stable sheds and a long, low
mud building with a dozen rough doors, each of
which opens into a small room. Then suddenly
the realisation of fatigue grips one ; there is no
desire for food, only for a drink and then for the
mud bed on which to lay one's aching body and sink
into the deep sleep of utter exhaustion.

After one such journey the desert has caught you.
If you will, you, the so-called teacher of men, shall
be taught yourself things which are never learnt in
the hurry, the bustle, the crowd, and the jazz of
twentieth century life. It shows you first the value
of widened horizons and at last the streets, the
houses, and all the man-made erections, come into
right proportion, and, strange to relate, they never
look so imposing again.

190 SOMETHING HAPPENED

In its fierce, tortid middays the desett teaches
you how to distinguish the teal from the illusion.
Always, seemingly near at hand, but just out of
reach, is the lapping water of the mirage lake. It
tempts you out of the way to quench your intoler-
able thirst at its brink, but it is only to find yourself
on a mad quest, chasing the unreal.

" See, there is water I " the inexperienced
traveller calls out.

" Water," says the old desert hand, " sand water I "
Then he adds : " In the desert never believe in water
until you taste it."

Still more dangerously deceptive are the weird
sounds, the call for help to which it seems inhuman
not to respond but too many have been lost that
way, and your guide is adamant: "That's not the
call of a man. Whoever answers that will be lured
to his death." Those strange voices always call one
aside from the right road ; but who can say what is
the right road over such a trackless plain ? It is a
far more imperative line than any other path men
follow, for it leads direct from well to well, and
water is life. The tracks are so ancient that _even
when the blimrd crashes down and carries moun-
tains of sand from one place to another, the road is
only temporarily smothered, and in a short time
it will unobtrusively reappear. By that old road

AMONG THE PILGRIMS 19!

which cannot be finally obliterated the spirit of the
desert teaches the fundamental laws of moral
rectitude. The dust of a lawless generation may
blow across, and the old rut may vanish, but wait a
while and it surely reappears, for its foundation is
more enduring than any of the storms.

One of the strange sights of the desert is the
whirling dust spout. On the calmest day, often in
couples, they come pirouetting across the plain.

" See the pair of them, male and female," shouts
the old leader.

" Has sand a sex also ? " asks the traveller.

" There is more than sand in that I Those are
the desert gwei* You can tell male from female
by the way they wrap the dust around them."

The shrewd old fellow talked on about the spirits
which shelter in the wilderness, always inimical to
man and anxious to turn him from his straight
course, whether by the snare of an illusion or by
the ascendancy of fear.

" What they want is a body, and for lack of a
better one they pick up a shroud of sand," he went
on. " There is many a bleaching skeleton among
those sand-dunes for which they are responsible."
Some things he said were amazingly scriptural.
" When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man he

* Gvti. Spirits of the dead.

192 SOMETHING HAPPENED

walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and
finding none . . ." The travellers listened, thought
and pondered their own ignorance, while the Gobi
warned them: "Hold your curiosity in check.
There is no need for you to explore every avenue of
questionable knowledge. In this trackless waste,
where every restriction is removed and where you
are beckoned and lured in all directions, your
safety is in austerity and in deliberately accepted
limitations. One narrow way is the only road for
you. In the great and terrible wilderness push on
with eyes blinded to the deluding mirage, your ears
deaf to the call of the seducer, and your mind un-
diverted from the goal."

*

Like so many of China's internal commotions, it all
began over a bowl of food. For more than two
thousand years the fifth day of the fifth moon has
been marked out for feasting, and it was a daring
official of the City of Prodigals who declared in 1929
that his budget did not permit of extra rations for
the soldiers on that day. " What ! " they yelled.
" No meat, no wine, no pork dainties ! " Late -the
evening before there was an ominous look about the
barrack-yard, which the officer would have noticed
if he had not been too busy entertaining some
gay ladies with wine and mah-jong. As soon as

AMONG THE PILGRIMS 193

the merrymakers had inhaled their opium the
signal was given, and the half-doped, wine-besotted
officers were startled by a rifle-shot which was the
signal for firing from each of the city gates. The
mutineers rushed the gaol, released the prisoners
and distributed rifles to every likely man. Caught
like rats in a drain the officials fled in all directions,
hiding among the refuse heaps, and even crawling
through the city wall by the gutters which carried
waste water to the moat.

Meanwhile the soldiers were having the time of
their lives. Their own self-appointed leaders mar-
shalled the men and gave them liberty to loot the
shops and take all they wanted. Every officer's
house was bursting with cooked food ready for the
feast, but this time it was the private soldiers who
ate it all. They tore the roast birds apart with
their hands and, still gnawing the succulent flesh,
rushed on to the shops and banks where there was
money. In a few hours the streets were littered
with copper coins, which the looters flung aside
as they took the silver dollars. Each man fitted
himself out with shoes, a new hat, a wash-hand
basin and some riding-kit. The next thing was
to secure horses enough to enable them to get
away before word of the mutiny reached the
neighbouring towns. Cutting the telegraph wires

194 SOMETHING HAPPENED

gave them forty-eight hours' start, arid when each
man had commandeered his mount, they all
cantered off with a parting volley in lieu of
good-bye.

Mutiny spreads in a discontented army as quickly
as measles in the nursery, and very soon the whole
area was in a blaze. This was the beginning of
the era of brigand armies in China's great North-
West. From this time on, the populace knew no
security, and the Rebel Army gathered into its
ranks all prodigals who were at a loose end. The
men had to be fed, and the only way to feed them
was to levy supplies of grain and grass from the
farmers, and money from the business men. The
simplest way was to begin by establishing a reputa-
tion for ferocity, after which demands, however
exacting, were instantly met. A few executions,
some severe beatings, a little incendiarism, soon had
the desired effect, and the money was levied upon
the town on pretext of " taxes paid in advance,"
for which an official receipt was issued. Before
long the taxes had been paid for fifteen years ahead.

It needed very clear guidance to know when to
remain in the city, and when to take to the road.
There are times in brigand occupation, when, if
the missionary be caught in the town, all he can
do is to keep within his four walls, whereas, if he

AMONG THE PILGRIMS 195

be in the country, he can carry on unhindered.
As soon as possible the Trio were off, but in
avoiding engagements between government troops
and irregulars they were twice nearly caught by
Moslem marauders, who were hiding in the fissures
of the Tibetan foothills. ^

There is a certain cold horror which creeps over
one when the dreaded words " Moslem Troops "
are heard. There is something so blood-curdling
about their very aspect. Tall, powerful, bearded,
with bold, cruel, relentless eyes, they have a daring
which paralyses the Chinese. Such men always
manage to be well armed, and if short of ammu-
nition, a sharp dagger will serve their purpose.
Their speech is guttural, and interspersed with
words of Arabic. Their heads are swathed in a
black turban and when the order to kill has been
issued, they unhesitatingly go through a city slaying
every man in its streets. It was such bandits who
held the fastnesses of the Tibetan hills and they
were in a desperate case for want of food. No one
could exactly locate them, but all believed them to
be some days' journey from the peaceful oasis of
" Clear Gold " where the missionaries were preach-
ing at a large fair. When the crowds had scat-
tered there were visits among the farms and the
pleasures of quiet sociability.

196 SOMETHING HAPPENED

In the afternoon, as they left one house, an
excited man tan towards them asking if they had
field-glasses with them. " Direct them on to those
three black stones," he exclaimed. " Now watch
very carefully, do their shadows move as though
someone were hiding there?" The Trio could
see nothing unusual, but his eagle eyes were more
to be relied on than the field-glasses, and in a few
minutes the village women were hiding their
treasures and the young men collecting stones for
possible defence. If the missionary once let him-
self consider fear he would spend his life in a panic,
and the words of the evening prayer were very
steadying : " Lighten our darkness, we beseech
Thee, O Lord, and by Thy great mercy defend us
from all perils and dangers of this night."

All were very tired after strenuous working days,
and quickly fell asleep, but scarcely an hour later
there was a rifle-shot and all the temple bells rang
out a wild alarm. Then the thud of a galloping
horse whose rider shouted as he went: "Flee!
Flee 1 The Moslem brigands are upon us 1 They
are looting the farms and riding in this direction."
The tired beasts were dragged from their feed and
in an incredibly short time tents were rolled up and
the camp ready to move. No one knew which way
to turn, but just then a man emerged from the dark-

AMONG THE PILGRIMS 197

ness : " Teachers," he said, " your only safety is to
make for the main desert road and get to the town
of Jade Gate. I have come to lead you, for you
could never find the bridges in the dark without a
good guide."

At last, after seventeen hours of continuous travel,
the light turret of Jade Gate stood out against the
afternoon sky. The mules had no pull left in
them and the carters' eyes were bloodshot with the
effort of driving and walking. All were dizzy
with exhaustion and wanted no food, but only
sleep. Next day there were rumours that the
Moslems were moving on towards Jade Gate, and
the only way to avoid them was to push ahead a
stage further to a small market town. Here the
mandarin was in hiding, but sent a private message
asking the missionaries to go to him. They found
him in a dark room at the back of a shabby shop, and
they had to scramble over the counter to get to him.
He was a tall, fine-looking, capable man who had
been educated in Tientsin, at a Western college.
His own troops had joined the mutineers, looted
the arsenal and left him helpless and alone, but for
one trusty man.

"I hear you met the Moslem bands from the
Tibetan hills," he said.

" We barely escaped them," they replied.

198 SOMETHING HAPPENED

" I am sorry to say they may be here to-day, and
the mutineers are approaching from the opposite
side, so we are caught between the two. You
ladies read Chinese. Look at this dispatch 1"
He handed over a paper which told of a large force
moving rapidly in that direction. "I can do
nothing to help you, but I warn you not to go for-
ward towards the west, for the mutineers are coming
that way, and you must not go back, for the other
road is cut off. My own plan is to flee into the
villages. It will be very difficult for you to do so,
but there is nothing else that I can advise you."
Then he said : " I wish I could do something for
you, but my own life is in danger. Please pray for

me."

Half an hour later the vanguard of that army
rode through the town and straight into the inn.
An immediate decision had to be made, as the Trio
were required to evacuate their rooms for the
oncoming soldiers. These particular men were
merely commanded to prepare quarters, arrest the
mandarin, ride on to Jade Gate and do the same
there. The advice to move into the villages was im-
possible to follow, for it was out of the question to
be wandering about in the dusk, in a strange locality,
looking for shelter in a brigand-infested area.
. In such a dilemma, immediate and definite guid-

AMONG THE PILGRIMS 199

ance was imperative, and while one stayed with the
goods two slipped out of the inn-court to a shady
spot to be quiet and pray that God .would deliver,
and send a guide to take them on their way. Noth-
ing could seem more unlikely at the moment than
the granting of that petition, for the little town was
already deserted, and the farmers were in a panic.
Yet, again something happened, for within ten
minutes a man rode up the inn-court on a little
donkey wearing a small brass crucifix stitched to
his coat. Seeing the three women he stood trans-
fixed and they, equally amazed, stared also, each
wondering how the other had come to this place.

" Who are you ? Where do you come from ?
Why do you wear the Christkn badge ? " they asked.

" I am a farmer," he answered, " away on the
Gobi border, and why do I wear a crucifix?
Because I belong to a Catholic family down south.
But what are you doing here ? " he continued.
" Do you realise that you are in great danger ? "

When the situation was explained he immediately
said : " I can help you, and I will do so ; meet me
at dusk at the back of the old Temple, trust your-
selves to me and I will take you to where you will
be safe."

By the light of the rising moon he led the party
through a labyrinth of oasis lanes, which are so

200 SOMETHING HAPPENED

difficult to negotiate because of the intersecting
water canals. Soon there was sharp firing in the
distance and it did not seem safe to proceed, so it
was decided to stay still till dawn. In the quiet of
the earliest morning he led on to where there was a
group of small farms with nothing beyond but
barren Gobi. Here was safe shelter and simple
people, who, but for this incident, would never
have heard the message of Christ.

Two weeks later, the man with the crucifix led
the party out by a circuitous route from farm to
farm, until they were on the main road for Tur-
kestan. Only once did they meet a band of bri-
gands. It was after leaving an inn where they had
rested and met a former acquaintance from the City
of Prodigals, a man who, like themselves, had been
caught on the road. He was intensely nervous, but
as they drove away he called out : " We shall meet
again this evening." Half an hour later the
Christian caravan was held up by soldiery and only
escaped robbery because, at the crucial moment,
an officer rode up, recognised them and shouted :
" Let those people pass, they are our missionaries."
He then saluted and rode away, but stopping at
the inn, his men seized the traveller from the City of
Prodigals, stood him against the wall and shot him.

AMONG THE PILGRIMS 2OI

At the close of a long missionary journey in
Turkestan, hot weather overtook the Trio in the
town of Cumul, which is as bad a place as could
be found in which to spend a summer. What
between glaring sun, whirling dust, loathsome
flies and tormenting mosquitoes, life in an inn
became almost intolerable. Moreover they longed
for rest from the crowds which never failed to
gather wherever they appeared, and from the
endless callers who made it impossible even to
secure a quiet meal.

Before the inn door was open in the morning
someone was shouting that there was a sick
woman outside, and even if the door-keeper refused
to open till sunrise, sleep was gone, for the man
continued knocking. By five o'clock he had gained
admission, glued his eye to a small hole in the
missionary's paper window and from that time on
there was no respite. When, at last, the cook
was commanded in a determined voice to bring
breakfast, some special case, from a long way off,
would sit watching for the last mouthful of food
to be swallowed. So it continued all day long,
and if the Trio escaped from the inn, they were
pressed into a variety of homes by those who
wanted to see and hear them.

The owner of the caravanserai was a kind host

202 SOMETHING HAPPENED

and realised how much they were needing a holiday.
He was, moreover, anxious to do all he could for
them. A few weeks earlier his mother lay at
death's door. All hope of her recovery was aban-
doned, but when the missionaries arrived in Cumul,
he begged them to help. The old Moslem lady
would not consent to see any man doctor, in fact,
would rather lose her life than do so. She knew
and loved the Trio, and when she heard of their
arrival, she thanked Allah and took courage. For
several days still her life hung in the balance, but
prayer was made for her in the name of Messiah
Jesus and she recovered. The amazement of the
family, rejoicing of relatives, and congratulations of
friends spread the news throughout the whole area.

Her son considered that it was now time for
the healers of others to have a little consideration
shown to them.

" Our Cumul heat is more than you can stand,"
he began. "Why not go into the country for
awhile?"

" We cannot find a cool place nearer than Barkul,
and that is four days' hard travel over mountains,"
was the only answer the Trio could give.

" I think I could get you an invitation to the
Khan's summer palace, in a lovely oasis thirty miles
from here. The Prime Minister is an old friend of

AMONG THE PILGRIMS 203

mine - we were at school together. If you like I
will see him to-day and arrange it."

Next day the Prime Minister himself called on
the Trio.

" You have saved the life of my friend's. mother,"
he said. " We are sworn brothers, and his mother
is as my mother. My debt to you is equal to his.
If you would like to take a holiday at the summer
palace, which is standing empty, the place is at
your disposal."

A few hours later a burly Turki stood in the
doorway, saluted, and declared himself ready to
receive orders from the Khan's guests :

" I am here to take you to the summer palace,
serve you while there, and bring you back when-
ever you wish to come. Command me."

The old Khan was very sick, but he took pen and
paper and wrote out a proclamation to his people
in the hills, which ordered that his guests should
be received with every honour and supplied with
all that they required.

At the summer palace rooms were ready and
a lady-in-waiting in attendance. The inner and
most secluded apartment had been selected, where
servants could sleep within earshot and be in
attendance all day. The lady-in-waiting knew her
work; it was to sleep with her charges and ply

204 SOMETHING HAPPENED

them with luscious fruits and salted tea at frequent
intervals. It was a splendid arrangement from
everyone's point of view, excepting that of the
weary guests, who only craved air, space, quiet,
solitude and, above all, liberty. If these were not
to be secured, Cumul with its flies was preferable
to such surveillance.

The Trio wandered off among the gardens.
Away from that gilded cage it was all so restful,
and when they saw the shady pagoda trees
and running waters they decided on a bid for
liberty.

"Your care of us has exceeded our deserts,"
they said to their hosts, " but in the garden yonder
is a large tree under which we can put up our tent,
and its shade is all that we require."

There were many protests, but in the end the
Trio had their way. The equerry was not sorry
to take possession of the vacated room, and the
poor lady-in-waiting, overcome by fatigue, com-
plained of severe headache. In this the Trio saw
an opportunity of descending to the rank of
commoners again. A dose of aspirin, in tabloid
form, was administered, with strict orders to go
home and rest for twenty-four hours. That dis-
posed of the lady-in-waiting, and she gave no more
trouble. The equerry was soon asleep on the rugs

AMONG THE PILGRIMS

prepared for the guests, and the Trio were left in
peace to foam at will.

%

There was peace and quiet among the enchanted
glades and rushing watercourses, and the only
people about were the gardeners and their families.
Each morning the women brought presents of
bread, eggs and fruit, and each evening the young
girls fetched out their tambourines and danced
together in the green glades. In such Arcadian
peace the mind was released from all thought of
brigandage, banditry, murder and carnage; yet
without warning brigands appeared again.

The Trio returned from an evening ramble to
find the robbers there - armed, fierce and very angry
to see a tent pitched in the garden. " Whose tent
is that ? " " How many people are here ? " " Are
they armed ? " " Where are they ? " These were
the questions they thundered at the old gate-keeper.
The leader turning fiercely, saw the inoffensive party
and burst into a loud laugh. " Why, it's our mis-
sionaries again; we seem to meet them everywhere."
It was the same Colonel who had searched their
carts by the roadside a year before and who had
shot the man in the inn. vThis time he was gun-
running and laying up stocks of ammunition in a
mountain fortress, in preparation for the revolution

206 SOMETHING HAPPENED

which broke out a few months later, and is still
shaking Central Asia to its foundation.

The overladen camels were almost spent with
the weight of their burden, and the Colonel's bold
eye searched the stables for mules which he might
" borrow," but they were not there to borrow, for
owing to a difficulty about fodder, they had gone
back to town to be fed up for the long journey
ahead. The brigand was disappointed to find the
stables empty, so set about to feed his camels on
wheaten flour to strengthen them for the one last
stage, after which they might lie down and die.

With becoming hospitality the old cook dipped
into the party's limited supplies to feed the robber
band, while the Trio sat and listened with tactful
interest to the Colonel's romances.

" The Nanking Government has now placed this
whole area in my care," he boasted.

" Indeed," said Eva French politely.

" I am patrolling the desert in search of robber
bands."

" That is a dangerous job," said Mildred Cable.

" It is a secret mission and we are avoiding the
large towns."

" You will be quiet enough here," said Francesca.

At this point bowls of steaming dough-strings
appeared, and the old cook, whose shaking knees

AMONG THE PILGRIMS 207

were fortunately concealed by his thick white
apron, handed them round to the Colonel and
his followers, saying: "There is neither meat nor
condiments to be bought in this place, so your
Honour must excuse such a poor meal ! "

"Fine! Fine!" said the Colonel, his face
wreathed with smiles at the sight of the best bowl
of food he had seen for many a long day.

The bandits scarcely slept, and all night they sat
round the camp-fire, the reflection of which gleamed
in their polished guns. No position could have been
more unprotected than that of the women who lay
watching them from under the flap of their sleeping-
tent. If it had suited the Colonel's strategy to hold
a few hostages, it might have been weeks before
their position was even known, but they were con-
scious of the wall of fire which encircled them.
After a while they slept, and the angels took charge.

|b *

One week later, at midnight, the Trio heard a
great cry : " The Khan is dead," and a messenger
who brought the news galloped up the avenue.
Fresh horses were saddled, and he rode on to the
pasture lands and mountain encampments, sum-
moning his subjects to the funeral of their sovereign.
i Though lineal descendant of the great Genghiz
Khan, the old ruler's power had diminished and

208 SOMETHING HAPPENED

he was a mere fief of the Chinese Government.
His estates had been cut down until he was virtually
only king of the Gobi, as nearly all the arable land
had been taken from him. The winter palace
was in Cumul and the summer palace in this Artem
oasis. Though shorn of his grandeur, his own
people, the Turkis, viewed him as their king.
They held him in veneration, and for the days
that followed no woman would take down her
tambourine, or sing a lullaby, because the great
Khan lay dead.

Every approach to Cumul swarmed with excited
Turkis, come to do homage to their dead ruler,
and when the linen-swathed body was carried to
the blue-tiled mausoleum to be laid among its
forbears, many thousands followed the bier.

Next day a solemn cortege paraded the streets,
carrying banners and scrolls to eulogise the dead
monarch. Largess was distributed with Oriental
profligacy, and a change of raiment was given to
each mourner. Money was flung from the palace
terraces to the crowd in the courts below, and there
was free hospitality for all comers, with feasting
for the more honoured guests. Each day at cock-
crow the Ahungs, scholars and students hastened
to the tomb, that dawn might find them engaged
in prayers for the dead. At the great ceremony,

AMONG THE PILGRIMS 209

when the heir in person received gifts from his
subjects, thousands of presents were kid at his
feet and a record was written to preserve the
names of the loyal.

There were many who had anxiously watched the
old Khan's life slowly ebbing, for it was known
that his death would be a crucial hour for the Turki
people, and might be made the opportunity for
robbing them of their few remaining rights and
territories. Events proved how well grounded
their fears were. One year later the young Khan
was a prisoner in the Chinese Governor's Yamen.
The beautiful old winter palace was razed to the
ground, its priceless treasures looted, the farms of
the Turkis burnt out, and the glades and orchards
of Artem had become the headquarters of the

Moslem insurgents.

When they left the Khan's palace, yet another
crossing of the great Gobi lay before the Trio - a
journey on which only the fool starts without
misgivings. The sands of the desert are strewn
with too many human bones to* allow for any
lightness of heart in those who traverse it. This
time it was midsummer, the season of torrid heat,
revolting flies and accumulations of stinking filth
in the oases. With a swiftness known only to

210 SOMETHING HAPPENED

dwellers in the East, cholera seized Evangeline
who, in a few hours, was a mere shadow of her
former self with life hanging in the balance. The
conditions were unspeakable ; she lay on the floor
of a small inn court, between a stagnant pool
and a pigsty. The nearest place with good water
was thirty miles away, but could she possibly stand
ten hours in a jolting, springless cart? The de-
cision had to be made, and that immediately. To
move on was a great risk, to stay offered small
chance of recovery. Mildred and Francesca asked
for guidance and decided to move her. The mule
cart was converted into an ambulance by padding
it with the bedding of the three, and all risk of
contagion had to be ignored. Barely conscious
and soothed by a sleeping draught, the patient was
lifted in, her two nurses sat on the shaft board,
and they travelled all night, stopping every few
miles to see how she fared.

In the cool dawn they reached the hamlet of
Flowing Water, the tent was set up and Evangeline
moved into it. The air was life-giving. To. the
west lay Lob, to the east were Gobi's glorious spaces
of unoccupied land. The Barkul snow range
towered on the horizon, its dazzling snowfields
sparkling against the azure sky, and the water
from its glaciers was brought to the very tent

AMONG THE PILGRIMS 211

door by means of the kari^* Blessed be the early
oases makers, who so patiently laboured to dig
out that channel which, far underground, con-
veyed pure water to the plain. This beautiful,
God-prepared field hospital supplied oxygen, free
and unlimited, an uncontaminated icy spring in
which food could be better kept than in an ice
house, and a sun beating so powerfully on the
hot sand that it served as a steriliser. In the pool
near-by the nurses could dip a sheet and hang it
up to cool the tent, when the midday heat was
intense. There was nothing lacking but food.

Every Gobi traveller must carry all his supplies,
but the bags of flour which were to feed the party
were of little use for a cholera patient, and of
invalid nourishment there was none.

Next morning the anxious nurses were moving
before dawn. The patient was exhausted, and the
urgent problem of nourishment seemed insoluble.
There was kindling to be collected and the prickly
desert thorn was hard to find. Francesca, going
afield to collect it, heard a gentle voice behind her :

" Missionary, you have a sick person with you.
I am afraid she is very ill, so I have brought you
down a bowl of milk."
"Milk! Is there milk in the desert ?"

5. Underground irrigation channel.

212 SOMETHING HAPPENED

i " Yes," she said, " there is, for my husband was
sent here to repair the kari^ and we dared not
leave our cow behind in the hills, there are too
many robbers about. She has just calved, so you
can have all the milk you want for your sick friend."
i Looking into the woman's kind, gentle eyes,
Francesca realised that there was something behind
this. Moreover the use of the word " missionary "
suggested association with Christian communities.
I " This is very kind," she said, " but why do you
address me as missionary ? Have you ever known
any missionaries ? "

i "Yes," she said. " When I was a little girl I had
the saddest of childhoods. My parents were too
poor to keep me, and they sold me to a man when I
was ten years old. He carried me off to a large town
several months' journey from here. Once I was very
ill, and when he thought I was going to die he took
me to a mission house, where a foreign lady looked
after me I can never forget all her kindness."

This Moslem woman was a friend in need during
those difficult days, for she brought fire-wood
from the little store which her husband had laid
up, and supplied all the milk the patient needed.

" When I sent you forth lacked ye anything? "
Christ asked of His disciples. "Nothing," was
their answer.

PART SEVEN
AMONG THE BANDITS

te

When wilt thou save the people ?

O God of mercy, when ?
The people, Lord, the people,

Not thrones and crowns, but men !
Flowers of thy heart, O God, are they ;
Let them not pass, like weeds, away
Their heritage a sunless day.
God save the people I "

AMONG THE BANDITS

THE TRIO were probably the only people in the
City of Prodigals who dared to smile at the
stories of General Lei's wonderful prowess. It
sounded so ridiculous that a child of fifteen should
walk out of his father's house in a tiff, call himself
"General" and within a year have earned for
himself the surname of " The Thunderbolt," and
be terrorising a whole province.

Their first instinct was to laugh at the whole
thing, but when news came that he was leading an
army of twenty thousand Moslems and that no
one could resist him, things took on a different
complexion. Then, unexpectedly, camel caravans
came to the town, bringing refugees who told
circumstantial stories of his atrocities.

"The Thunderbolt," now aged eighteen, was
evidently no ordinary boy. This is the story of
his origin. A certain famous general had betrayed
a friend to death. From that hour he knew no
peace of mind, for the vengeful spirit of General
Fan rose between him and all life's securities. In
every ill fortune he saw the hand of the dead man,
and if luck favoured him, he feared the more,

2l6 SOMETHING HAPPENED

being convinced that the vindictive spirit would
turn it in some way to evil. Even his hope of a
son was poisoned with fear, and as the hour of
birth drew near, his spirit fainted within him, for
this, if ever, would be the hour of retribution.

As he sat waiting among the oleander trees in
his courtyard, the people around him were horrified
to see him spring up, stare into space and call out :
" General Fan has come." He fell unconscious to
the ground at the very moment when a confidential
servant came from the inner court to say : " There
is an occasion of great rejoicing, my General.
Your son is born." That child became the famous
" Thunderbolt " - a mascot to his troops, a terror
to his own family, and a scourge to the trade routes
of Central Asia.

This time there was no doubt about it,
General Lei with his army was moving
towards the City of Prodigals and travelling so
swiftly and secretly that no one knew when he
might arrive. Town defence was mobilised and
each house required to supply at least one young
man for training. When the recruiting officer
marched into the mission compound and called
upon the Church Elder to produce his man, the
only youth available was young David, aged
eighteen and apprenticed to a Christian shoemaker.

AMONG THE BANDITS ZIJ

He would be required to wear the uniform of the
City Defence Force, appear at daily drill and spend
his nights patrolling the city wall.

Now this David was not a man of war, and he
viewed all these martial activities with the utter-
most distaste. What he loved was to bend over
his last, and produce shoes with soles of paper and
uppers of twill calico. His reluctance was such
that the Church leaders were compelled to hold a
meeting in order to coerce him into recognition
of his civic duty.

The meek David stood fingering his cap, while
the Church officers sat round and looked at him.

" David," said the Elder, " we consider it your
duty to join up in the Defence Force."

Silence.

" You need not fear to lose your job, because
when this little trouble is over, you will be received
back into the shoe-shop."

Still silence.

" The town supplies a uniform, so that will be
a new suit of clothes for you," the Elder said in an
encouraging tone.

Here his father broke in : " David is not strong,"
he said, " and he is afraid of the cold on the city
wall at night."

"Cold at night!" said the Elder; "we will

2l8 SOMETHING HAPPENED

soon settle that. I have a warm, cosy cap with
rabbit-skin flaps which button down over the ears,
and I will lend it to David."

" The Defence Force has to drill at dawn and
David suffers from chilblains," his father persisted.

" A pair of wadded socks is what he wants,"
countered the Elder. "The material shall be
bought from Church funds and my wife will make
them up. I think too, the shoe-shop ought to
find a good pair of misfits for him."

David, seeing all his subterfuges demolished one
by one, feebly braced himself to the hated duty of
warfare. Then, with a great rush of generosity,
one of the leaders spoke up and said :

"Let us not be mean over this business. I
propose that David be supplied with a dollar a
month for pocket money, so that he never lacks a
penny to buy a little extra food. I think also that
his father may be spared to carry hot soup to him
on the city wall each evening."

Under the pressure of such tender compulsion
David had no option but to yield, and three days
later he appeared in a blue cotton uniform with a
large white calico badge across his chest on which
was written: "Li David. Age 18. Member of
the City Defence Force."

The Children's Band used to visit the drill-ground

AMONG THE BANDITS 219

on purpose to see thek friend David being taught
the feints and postures of war, and on the day
when he was first supplied with a sham gun, with
which he learnt to take aim and pull the little peg
which stood for trigger, their delight knew no
bounds.

As things became more critical spies, disguised as
priests and beggars, were sent out collecting informa-
tion, and one night they crept back with the terrify-
ing news : " The army is only ten miles away and
will be here in a few hours." The regiment of
volunteers which had been drilling for weeks in
preparation for this very emergency, decided, in a
moment, to offer no resistance. The city gates
were thrown open and while the chief magistrate
rode out to receive " The Thunderbolt," the new
Law Courts were rapidly furnished to house him.
Chairs, tables, beds, wash-hand basins, clocks,
lamps and rugs were levied from unwilling citizens
for the use of General and Staff. Bread shops
were cleared of their bakings and butchers' shops
of thek meat, to supply the army with food.

When General Lei himself rode into the town,
it was gaily decorated with banners bearing
eulogistic mottoes : " Welcome to the saviour
of the people." " Friend of the people, live for
ever." " Opener of China's highways, advance."

220 SOMETHING HAPPENED

Word was circulated that he was well pleased
with the welcome, and that if the town continued
to entertain him suitably, it would not fall under
his displeasure.

Men and horses were billeted in every court
and the men given carte blanche to take all they
would. There was a whisper on the market-place
that the fortunes of the bandits were not so rosy as
they appeared and that Government troops were
pressing after them. The General's own report
was quite different. According to him he was
on his way to Chinese Turkestan, where Nanking
would appoint him Governor. The rumour that
Turkestan was his objective was confirmed by
his ordering the town to supply many thousands of
iron tent pegs, and a thousand pairs of bellows for
blowing up camp-fires. This indicated that he
was making preparations for a desert journey. The
town shod his horses, repaired his saddles, and
made tons of biscuit bread to help the army across
its Gobi stages. Under cover of darkness his
scouts spent their nights in stealing horses, mules,
wheat, money, women and anything else they
fancied. Few of the citizens ever undressed and
all were busy digging holes, in which to bury
their possessions.
For the first time since they reached Kansu, the

AMONG THE BANDITS 221

Trio were short of money, and were a poor catch
for the brigands, who levelled guns at them from
their own roof.

" Send your husbands up here, quick I" one of
them called out.

" Sorry, we have none to send " was the answer.
"They are vowed to celibacy" a cautioning
voice whispered in the gloom.

'* Anyhow you must find a man to come up and
parley " the first man continued.

The only man in the house was a peaceable old
servant, and he was hoisted on to the roof, where
a whispered conversation took place, from which
he returned white and trembling.

" They ask a lot of questions," he reported, " all
about our household and our money supplies."
" What did you tell them ? "
" I told them there was very little silver, and that
we were poor ; but they say poor or not, they must
have money, and there are armed men waiting to
take it by force if we do not give it up. Please,
Teacher, give them all you have and save our lives.
Don't begrudge money."

The Trio found it rather nerve-racking to stand
and watch the brigands play with the triggers of
their levelled guns, so they invited them to come
down and bargain. Nothing, however, would induce

222 SOMETHING HAPPENED

them to leave the roof, and the demands finally
became so insistent that all the money in the house,
which was little enough, and but a fraction of what
they demanded, was handed over. They still
refused to leave and were getting really angry,
when there was a flash from a swinging lantern
and the very man in whose house the Chief of
Staff was quartered, walked in. He stared in
amazement to see this midnight parley between
missionaries and brigands and slipped off to sum-
mon help. The robbers also thought well to make
away, but later on lowered themselves into the
stable and led off the two best beasts it held.

When the friend returned he found the coast
clear. An unaccountable impulse, he said, had
compelled him to get up and come round to the
missionaries' house at this unusual hour. The
next day the Staff Officer himself called. He was
a native of the Balkans and acted as Military
Adviser to " The Thunderbolt." " The General
is furious that his men should have dared to rob
you," he said, "but mules and money will be
returned to-morrow morning. He is determined
to make the culprits pay the full penalty. Three
of them will be executed at dawn." It was useless
to plead for leniency. The order had been given.
Late into the night the Staff officer sat on and by

AMONG THE BANDITS 223

his presence saved the house from sharing in the
general looting, but no executions took place for,
at dawn> the whole army evacuated and the two
stolen mules were harnessed to the General's per-
sonal cart.

As soon as there was reliable information of the
brigand army being safely over the Turkestan
border, the pursuing punitive force moved North-
West The City of Prodigals got busy with pre-
parations to give the Government troops at least
as cordial a welcome as they had extended to
General Lei lest they be suspected of secret
alliances. There were, however, those eulogistic
posters to be disposed of and the Chamber of
Commerce hastily hired a number of men to scrape
from the walls all the bills which praised him and
replace them with others indicting him as " Prince
of Murderers," " Despoiler of the North-West,"
" Chief instigator of all iniquity."

Feasts were made to welcome the next army and
the new Law Courts were swept and regarnished
for the newcomers. The rooms were not quite
so grand as before, because " The Thunderbolt "
had carried off most of the clocks and all the rugs
when he left. The punitive force rested and feasted
for a few days, then moved on in pursuit, but six
weeks later returned, so triumphantly victorious

224 SOMETHING HAPPENED

that it had never even sighted the enemy, who, by
this time, was two months' journey away on the
other side of the Gobi desert, and if rumours were

correct, not likely to return.

* *

With the bandits away in Turkestan and the
punitive force cantering quietly home to receive
the ovation due to a victorious army, the North-
West area was left clear for another missionary
journey. Even the City of Sands, closed to the
preachers for- the last five years by reason of mutiny
and rebellion, was now quiet and peaceful. It was
too good an opportunity to be neglected and the
missionary caravan was soon under way.

The travellers saw for themselves the havoc
wrought by the brigands. The countryside was
full of small bands, deserters from the main army,
who were doing business on their own account.
Every night farms were being sacked and women
carried off to be abandoned later on. Even in
the towns a few rifle-shots were sufficient to bring
the magistrate to his knees, and to force from him
silver which he, in turn, levied from the populace.
Wherever General Lei had passed he had emptied
the arsenal, and left the town defenceless.

They passed through the portal of the Great
Wall of China, spent a few days in Jade Gate and

AMONG THE BANDITS 225'

moved on to the City of Peace, where they left
the main toad and travelled south-west for foul
days ovet an arid stretch. At the end of each day's
stage was a small well of bitter water, but when the
City of Sands came in sight they entered a beautiful
oasis. This town is the farthest outpost of China
on the north-west, at the opening of what was once
the greatest of Asia's ancient trade routes, con-
necting east with west.

Tunhwang, to use the Chinese name, was once
the battlefield where China and Tibet fought for
supremacy. In 759 A.D. it was conquered by the
Tibetans, but from the middle of the ninth century
their rule declined and finally China overcame. Its
inhabitants have always been proud and exclusive,
and like to call their town " Little Peking."

The oasis is crammed with relics of historical
interest and when the natives found the Trio keen
about such things, they delighted to show them
old tablets and stone figures, hidden away in the
temples, as well as every kind of ancient vase, pot
and coin which had been dug out of the sands.

The most beautiful place in the oasis is the Lake
of the Crescent Moon, hidden among the sandhills,
and the most famous is the great cliff, honeycombed
with cavities, known as the Caves of the Thousand
Buddhas. the walls of these caves are decorated

226 SOMETHING HAPPENED

with a profusion of frescoes covering a very long
period of Eastern art.

The City of Sands, being four days' journey from
the main road, had escaped pillage by the army,
though it had suffered more than most towns from
earlier ravages; the garrison was still intact and
the town was well defended for, in addition to the
regular troops, three thousand volunteers had joined
up and been well drilled by competent men. The
city wall had been repaired, the gates strengthened,
and there were enough stones piled up on the walls
to keep an enemy at bay. No one entered the town
without the most searching investigation and not
even the missionaries were admitted until credentials
had been examined.

Their first Sunday in the City of Sands was a
memorable day. It was hoped that a few people
would meet for public worship, but to everyone's
amazement the inn room was crowded to the doors
and, after the service was over, one and another
stood and asked to have his name enrolled on a
list of enquirers. In great surprise the mission-
aries looked round on this group of men and
women who called themselves Christians and
wondered how this came to be.

" Where did you hear the Gospel ? When did
you believe ? " they asked.

AMONG THE BANDITS 227

"How should we not believe when six years
ago you came and preached to us ? You left us
the Scriptures, we read them and know that they
are true." It seemed as if the hour for reaping
had suddenly come and, foreseeing the rush of
harvest, a letter was sent to the City of Prodigals
for reinforcements. The helpers that were asked
for, started, but communications were cut and
they never reached the City of Sands.

Meanwhile, there was not a day to be wasted.
Each morning, as soon as it was light, visitors
came, some of them bearers of invitations to
neighbouring farms; there were women to be
instructed, children to be taught, sick people to
be seen and meals had to be fitted in, when. and
how it was possible.

One night when the Trio were camping among
the villages, they sighted six riders galloping through
the sandhills, and their bearing was warlike and
arrogant. Twelve hours later everyone knew that
" The Thunderbolt's " army, carrying its wounded
mascot, had recrossed the Gobi desert, occupied
the City of Peace and was falling back on the City
of Sands.

The gates were closed, the walls manned by the
town garrison backed by the volunteer Defence
Force, and there was show of a very stout resistance.

228 SOMETHING HAPPENED

That same day six riders came thundering at the
gates, shouting the usual ultimatum : " Our General
demands instant capitulation. If he be received
with honour the City of Sands will be exalted, if
he be refused admission, this town will be razed
to the ground and its inhabitants slaughtered."

The threat had been so ruthlessly executed in
other cities that the officials trembled like men
under sentence of death. Before sunset the man-
darin, surrounded by his bodyguard and followed
by his underlings, was handing over the keys of
the town and the guns of the garrison. The De-
fence Force came tumbling down from the city
wall without having thrown even one of the stones,
each man secretly delighted to be spared the risks
of battle, and eager to make a bee-line for home.

Once safely inside the town, the brigands
reminded the magistrate that he had given offence
by manning the walls and closing the gates, there-
fore, though the General would deal leniently and
there would be no wholesale slaughter, the Defence
Force must be ready to march to headquarters in
the City of Peace, where the men would be
received into his own army.

It was black Saturday when a rider came to
the City of Sands, bearing a dispatch from the

AMONG THE BANDITS 229

General which demanded that two of the foreign
women be conveyed immediately to his head-
quarters. The mayor of the town, with a group
of councillors, came to break the news, but the
foreign women's answer was : " No." At this the
mayor shook his head very seriously. " You and
I are both under that man's orders," he said. " He
has sent a military guard to fetch you, and you
should consider yourselves lucky that you have
been commanded to go in a courteous way. My
orders are to hand you over and I dare not disobey."
Making a virtue of necessity the Trio bowed to
the inevitable, but on one point they were adamant:
they would not be separated. Moreover, they
would travel in their own cart and take their own
servant. The mayor was pleased enough at this
arrangement, as it saved him the trouble of stealing
someone else's cart and servant for their use. It
was a dismal experience to leave before the dawn
of a bleak November morning on the four days'
journey across Gobi. As they drove out of the
city the armed escort fell in to right and left of
them, pushing up from the rear a band of two
hundred young men, many of whom were tied
together with ropes, and who were also bound for
headquarters. They were the takings of the latest
press-gang raid.

230 SOMETHING HAPPENED

There was a small group of Christians to see the
missionaries leave, and they turned away to hide
their emotion, for they never expected to see their
teachers back again, knowing, that of the daily
parties which left for that camp, none ever returned.
This, however, was not the Trio's attitude; they
hated going, but if it had to be done they would
go with their heads up, and accordingly the armed
guards had to wait while the Christian band prayed
and sang its song :

" I am weak, but Thou art mighty,
Hold me with Thy powerful hand"

"They can't travel without that," the captain
explained to his men.

The cavalcade moved due north in the teeth
of an icy blast, and the conditions of each night's
camp were so difficult that it was impossible ever
to cook a meal. Bread and tea was the menu for
those four days, and when the guard sighted bread,
it came to " borrow " some for its own supper.
It was well for the Trio that they were inured to
hardness and could take it philosophically.

Each morning there were two or three lads
missing from the band of recruits for, under cover
of darkness, the local boys who knew every ridge

AMONG THE BANDITS

and mound in that uniform plain, would crawl
away, burying themselves, if needs be, to the neck
in loose sand to escape observation. If caught,
deserters were shot, or flogged till the flesh hung
in ribbons from the bone.

On the afternoon of the fourth day they reached
brigand headquarters. Every house in the town
had been commandeered, every shop was closed,
and of all artisans only the blacksmiths remained.
They were busy shoeing horses, mending carts and
hammering iron into clumsy weapons. The streets
were alive with brigand activity. Fine horses,
looted from Turkestan, were being exercised,
squads of recruits marched to and from the drill-
grounds. Parties of foraging scouts galloped in
and out of the town, sometimes urging on a quiet,
patient, long-suffering peasant who, hungry him-
self, was made to bring in his stores of wheat,
including that which had been laid up for next
spring sowing.

The Trio were duly handed over to the General's
bodyguard and lodged in a schoolroom near his
own house. Loud orders were shouted that they
were to be fed from the communal stores, and with
a flourish of the pen, the secretary drew up a ration
ticket which read :
"Hand over on demand twenty pounds of

23? SOMETHING HAPPENED

wheaten flour and four measures of millet. For
the mules likewise thirty pounds of grass and grain
sufficient, etc., etc."

The hungry cook seized the ration ticket to
present it immediately at the military stores, but
was quickly back, carrying a ; very small bag of the
poorest millet.

"To-day's provisions are all finished," he
grumbled. " There is no flour, no grass, no grain,
and only just enough millet for our supper."

A little later an orderly came to summon
the Trio to " The Thunderbolt's " presence. He
occupied the best house in the town, and his guest-
room was heated with a brass brazier of burning
firewood. He sat on a dais, spread with handsome
rugs, and the walls were hung with British firearms.
His bodyguard was composed of fierce, ruthless,
bearded and turbaned men, all typical brigands,
heavily armed. In their midst the General offered
a complete contrast, for he was tall, slender,
elegant, perfumed and effeminate. He leaned back
on the dais, discussing the matter of an execution,
with delicate, languid movements and in noncha-
lant fashion. A certain man had displeased him
and he was to be shot, but, his offence having been
but a slight one, someone dared to plead for him.
General Lei was peevishly murmuring: "How

AMONG THE BANDITS 233

can I overlook it when he didn't do what I told
him ? I must have him shot."

A moment later he was asking for medical advice
regarding an unhealed gunshot wound, and his
weary voice sharpened in fear, lest the application
of a disinfectant should cause a smart to his delicate
flesh. Yet before the interview was over, he was
again giving orders which, when carried out, must
plunge good, honest, hardworking men and women
into an abyss of grief.

It was anxious work to be guests of a brigand
chief, for any night the whole army might be on
the run, and carry the Trio with them, or the town
might be surrounded by an attacking force. There
were secret negotiations in progress and everyone
was nervous as to their outcome. It was probably
because of these that he wanted to have the three
foreigners in his camp.

Each day seemed more difficult than the last.
The cook was in despair, for he could secure nothing
but a small daily ration of millet to feed the whole
party. The cold was increasing every day, and
they had not even firewood to burn in the brazier.
The carter was goaded to madness because the
sleek mules which had been stolen from the Trio
in the City of Prodigals were being fed in the
very courtyard where the missionaries were housed,

234 SOMETHING HAPPENED

while the team which had replaced them was being
slowly starved.

" If we stay here much longer, our beasts will
be so weak that they will never drag us away,"
he growled.

The Trio's great fear was that they share the
fate of all who came to this camp and find themselves
detained indefinitely. They knew that the greatest
caution was needed, because any suggestion that
they wished to move might so easily be met with
a refusal, and a refusal from the General would
make it impossible to reopen the subject.

If anything was to be done, it must be the right
thing at the right time and in the right way, or
they would be in a worse position than before.
" The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as
the watercourses : He turneth it wheresoever He
will." Therefore to the Lord they committed their
cause, and waited for His deliverance.

After some time guidance was given when the
Chief of Staff called to see them. As he spoke
French fluently, it was possible to talk to him of
private matters in public. They knew the moment
had come, and made a bold request to be allowed
to return to the City of Sands. He listened to all
they had to say and promised to do what he could
to help them. To their amazement, when he came

AMONG THE BANDITS 235

again he was bearer of the permit they had scarcely
dared to hope for, which allowed them to return
to the oasis they came from, but simultaneously
a command was issued to the magistrate to detain
them within the oasis borders.

At the last interview with General Lei nothing
was said about leaving, lest he should suddenly
alter that fickle mind of his and withdraw the
permission. Yet, knowing it to be the last, certain
things had to be said, and standing in front
of the Chief, one of the party handed him a copy
of the New Testament and of the Ten Command-
ments of God, bidding him have a care for his soul.
He stood and listened quietly to the exhortation,
while the bodyguard stared, amazed at the daring

of these women.

In a few weeks the Chinese City of Sands was
transformed into a Turk! settlement. The Moslem
rebellion which " The Thunderbolt " led in Tur-
kestan had temporarily collapsed, and all who had
taken part in it, with their wives and children,
followed the army across the desert in wild con-
fusion. Hundreds perished by the roadside of
hunger, thirst, wounds or disease, and the incoming
refugees added the last quota of misery to the town.
Even the wealthy were faced with starvation,

236 SOMETHING HAPPENED

because the army had to be fed, and there was
nothing left over for civilians. The seed which
farmers had put aside for spring sowing was
seized, all supplies from outside were cut off, and
merchants, robbed of their goods and money,
closed down their shops. Everyone was anxious,
everyone was sad, everyone was perplexed and
everyone was fearful of the future.

The Trio arrived back from the General's camp
to find themselves homeless. The landlord of the
inn was a Moslem, and by reason of Islam's brother-
hood had to break his word to the Christians and
give preference to the followers of the Prophet.
They found temporary shelter, but there was no
space whatsoever to accomplish the things which
they were there to do - preach, teach and evangelise.

Just when they were most perplexed, God took
the issue in hand. A certain merchant chanced to
hear on the baqar* that the three foreigners were
back from the General's camp and that they were
homeless. " That must not be," he said. - " They
were very kind to me when I met them at the Lake
of the Crescent Moon last month, and gave me
some medicine for my eyes, which have been better
ever since." Turning to his manager he said:
" Take my card to the ladies and say that if they

*Bfl!jar. Shopping quarter of a Central Asian town.

AMONG THE BANDITS 237

want a house they may have the use of the Blue
Courts, which are standing empty, and they may
move in as soon as they like."

That very day the Trio took possession of the
best house they ever occupied in China. It had
rows of large rooms, good kitchens, fine stabling,
and best of all, a spacious guest-hall to hold two
hundred people. There was no furniture, but the
courteous Chinese never let one down on such
details, and before night one neighbour had lent
a table, another two chairs and yet another loaned
a few benches. A large brass brazier was hired,
and when the walls were decorated with gay
Christian posters the place looked very cheerful,
and the household settled in with deep gratitude.

They only enjoyed the Blue Courts for twenty-
four hours as at the end of that time a robber band
rode horses into the stables, threw rugs on to the
kangs and ordered the missionaries to " look sharp
and quit." It was a bad case of "loss of face,"
and not easy for the Trio to understand why they
should have been exalted and then abased before
everyone, but they knew it was up to them to trust
though they could not understand, and trusting
meant taking both incidents from the Hand of
God. Therefore, having to clear out, they would
do it as pleasantly as possible.

238 SOMETHING HAPPENED

It was drawing on towards evening and they were
without shelter for the night, as there was now not
even an inn-room to fall back on. As they packed
all their possessions into the carts their cry to God
was, that if they had made a mistake in leaving the
inn, as Beelzebub strongly insinuated they had, they
might be kept from making another. There was
an earnest desire for guidance, and when the carter,
whip in hand, turned and said : " Teacher,
whither?" without hesitation came the answer:
" To the Lake of the Crescent Moon." It was
dark when they got there, but the kindly old
priest, guardian of the shrine, opened the deserted
Pilgrim House and invited them to make use of it.

The City of Sands takes its name from the ranges
of sand-dunes which lie to the south, stretching out
into the great desert of Lob. As far as eye can
see they roll in undulating softness, the outline of
each crest blurred by sand-spray and their smooth
slopes towering precipitously. In one cup of the
sand-dunes lies a sapphire crescent-shaped lake. It
is only half a mile long and on its narrow band of
shore stand temple buildings nestling among trees
whose leaves are silver and whose fruit is gold.
The water fowl nest in the sedge by the water's
brink and nothing has ever disturbed the peace of
this place where the sands muffle every sqund.

AMONG THE BANDITS 239

There is only just room to walk between the water's
edge and the steeply sloping wall of sand. This
sand always appears to threaten the little lake and
would inevitably smother it, but for the wind,
which in an inexplicable way blows the falling sand
upwards, tossing it back among the dunes.

These sandhills possess the curious property of
singing when the sand is moved. Before the
desert gale blows, a sound like the rattle of drums
is heard but at any time the sands can be induced to
sing their curious song to any who will pay the
price of climbing their steep ascent. The Trio
often did so, and from the knife-edge of the highest
point slid down the sharp incline just for the sheer
fun of hearing the great vibration which seemed to
spring from the very centre of the mighty hill of
loose sand. They soon learned which of the dunes
would sing, and which, though of identical aspect,
remained persistently silent.

At midwinter the lake was a sheet of ice, swept
clean from any grains of sand which might have
fallen on its surface, by the upward trending winds.
The Pilgrim quarters were very cold, the temper-
ature was below zero and the party was dependent
for firing on any odds and ends that could be picked
up, but all were so thankful for the shelter of a roof
that they were not in critical mood, and wherever

240 SOMETHING HAPPENED

there was old tamarisk root to be found, they went
grubbing in the sand for it.

The Trio often reminded each other that there
were no terms in the commission under which
they served to exempt them from difficulties,
discomforts, dangers or inconveniences, and they
had not a word to say if these were their daily
portion. Their Master had nowhere to lay His
head and should the servant expect more than his
Lord? When plans were upset and they were
landed in discomfort they understood that they
had to accept these fresh orders cheerfully and make
the best of the situation. On the other hand, Christ
had promised to make them sharers of His joy and
they knew that His peace passed all understanding.

Every few days some brigand band, foraging
among the farms, rode out to the lake to levy a
further contribution from the old priest. As they
left the old man would watch them disappear and
shake his head : " We have fallen on bad days ;
Heaven is punishing men for their evil deeds, but
we knew trouble must come when the moon was
eclipsed on the night of her festival." Meanwhile
the missionaries set themselves to evangelise the
area nearest the lake and a great time they had
among the farms. They preached the word
unhindered, and it had free course and prevailed.

AMONG THE BANDITS 241

During those weeks of exile they revisited the
Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, where the
guardian was an old friend. They had no reason
to be hurried, and spent some days wandering
among the innumerable caves and shrines which
are hollowed, tier upon tier, out of the cliff. It is
a wonderful gallery of art, and the frescoes depict
every incident in the life story of the Buddha, as
well as lovely scenery of the Elysian gardens of the
Chinese paradise and countless other scenes. But
the Trio's main object was not to view ancient
paintings, interesting though these be. They
climbed those steep ascents and walked the perilous
planks, in order to deposit in each remote cave a
copy of the Scriptures. Their confident hope was
that some weary pilgrim, sitting down to rest on
his toilsome penance, might find there the end of
his quest, in the story of the Lamb of God.

Days passed into weeks and still there was no
place for them in the town. It was now nearly
Christmas and the converts inside the city were
hoping their teachers would be with them for
this first joyful celebration, but it seemed impossible.
Then something happened. On the night of
December the twenty-third there was a quarrel
and a fight in the Blue Courts, pistols were fired
and the whole town was in alarm. The officer

242 SOMETHING HAPPENED

in command rushed to the scene to find wine, an
orgy of feasting, women and gambling. Drunken
soldiers were flourishing firearms and shooting at
random. He ordered instant evacuation of the
premises, a move which for certain private reasons
of his own he was not sorry to bring about, and
packed the women back to the house they came
from.

He would have liked the Blue Courts for him-
self, but in such an army, an officer cannot with
safety live in a better house than his men, and the
simplest solution of his problem was to get the
missionaries back. He forthwith dispatched an
orderly to the Lake of the Crescent Moon with a
letter inviting them to return at once. Simul-
taneously the landlord, who feared the perils of an
empty house, also sent his servant on the same
errand, and the leader of the Mosque who, by
breaking his word, had stranded them homeless,
saw an opportunity of making amends, and wrote
a letter urging their return. Therefore, escorted
by three mounted messengers, the Trio arrived in
triumph at the Blue Courts with enough daylight
left in which to sweep the house clean and arrange
for Christmas celebrations.

The City of Sands was an important place in the
days of Nestorian Missions, but never since then

AMONG THE BANDITS 243

had the birth of the Saviour been commemorated
there. On the great day the congregation gathered,
and good tidings of great joy, as was fitting,
were proclaimed to a company including Chinese,
Tibetans, Turki and Mongols, all of whom heard
that day why the Lord Jesus came to earth and
what the message was, that His ambassadors
were commissioned to deliver.

At the close of the service the inner circle shared
a simple meal. When the guests had all gone and
evening closed in, the Trio had time to sit round
the blazing brushwood, remember all the Christ-
mases of the years they had spent together and
consider the way by which they had been led.
There were happy memories of furlough festivities
among friends and relatives in the security of home,
with all the traditional setting of the feast, but the
recollection of chiming church bells was best not
dwelt upon. The thought of boisterous days
among the merry school children of Hwochow
and the tall Christmas tree laden with presents,
stirred remembrance of the carol-singing at dawn
by which the missionaries were bid awake and
salute the happy morn. Two weeks' journey away
in the City of Prodigals a Christian community
was gathering this very day to celebrate the birth
of a Saviour of Whom, but a few years ago, they

244 SOMETHING HAPPENED

had never even heard and now, literally in the
uttermost parts of the earth, in the City of Sands,
there was joyful commemoration and peace among
men of goodwill. It was a thrilling retrospect and
they responded to it with profound joy.

For ten years they had tramped the great North-
West and the early vision which had come to them
of trade-routes captured for the spread of the Gospel,
was realised. Tens of thousands of Scripture
portions were scattered up and down those great
highways, and every city they had touched was
posted over with the Ten Commandments of God.
On the witness of the prodigals themselves, those
mighty words had checked them in the pursuit of
evil.

Six times, in missionary journeys, the Trio had
covered the North- West area and now the witness
was to be carried once more into Turkestan.
^The Gospel had been preached through Inner
Mongolia and in the Tibetan lamaseries. For a
decade they had been homeless and without material
comforts, literally pilgrims in a strange land, but
physically they had, if anything, gained in the power
of endurance. There was, however, no denying
that the signs of wear and tear were evident, so
they preferred to travel without a mirror.

In the only things that mattered, they had gained

AMONG THE BANDITS 245

immeasurably and the nearness and reality of Christ
had become so intense, that He was truly their
Saviour, Guardian, Friend, Prophet, Priest, King,
Lord, Life, Way and End - they having Him lacked
nothing.

On this Christmas day their fare was but tea
and bread, and they were in the hands of a bandit
General whose next whim might be to carry them
off anywhere, yet their hearts burned within them
as they said : " For Christ's sake, it is worth it, a
thousand times over." " Blessed be the Lord God
of Israel Who only doeth wondrous things."

*

The great Chinese festival of New Year was no
feast at all with robbers in control and food at
famine prices. For the first five days of the year
the North- West was accustomed to give itself up
to the delights of the gaming-tables, but this time
even the lure of the dice lost all charm for the heart-
sick people. Any young man who showed him-
self in the street would certainly be seized by the
press-gang, and recruiting officers swept down on
the farms at unlikely hours and carried off all on
whom they could lay hands. But the yokels were
sharper than they looked, and the stupid, one-eyed
fellow who opened the farm door so clumsily, had
been put there to give a secret sign, and delay the

246 SOMETHING HAPPENED

scouts long enough for the youngsters to get into
hiding. The ruses of the shop assistants were
unfathomable - they hid, they disguised themselves
and they feigned sickness. Thousands of recruits
had been marched to headquarters and still peremp-
tory orders came to dispatch more.

Wits, however, were not all on one side, and
one morning the main street was unexpectedly
gay with booths, at which eager groups of soldiers,
disguised as farmers, squatted and tried their luck.
An inspired word went round that the press-gang
was out of the way, and there was a chance of sport.
Like birds to lime the grinning yokels came, and
apprentices who had hidden themselves for weeks,
slipped round with a string of cash up their sleeves.
For an hour there was all the delightful excitement
which a game of chance supplies, then three rifle-
shots, and the gamesters were surrounded by troops,
roped together, marched off to the temple courts
and locked behind railings, through which they
could see their old fathers and mothers weeping
and pleading for their release. The morale of the
town sank several degrees when it was seen how
cleverly its youths had been trapped.

The Turki refugees were a very piteous com-
pany, All of them were well-off merchants reduced
to penury, or agriculturists who had left their lands

AMONG THE BANDITS 247

in Cumul and fled while their farmhouses were
going up in flames behind them. The women-folk,
accustomed to the seclusion of a harem, were
miserable in the publicity of an inn, and every kind
of sickness of the body laid hold on them. They
turned to the missionary for medical help and,
finding women who could converse with them in
their own language, poured out the tale of their
woes in the safety of the foreign women's rooms.
How thankful the Trio were that they had made a
start on the Turki language during their last fur-
lough, and had persevered with it.

They often went to their old quarters in the
Moslem inn to visit Turki refugees, and then they
understood why they had been guided to leave,
even though leaving meant enduring the discom-
fort of the Pilgrims' quarters. The common well
had become contaminated, and in each room
someone was down with enteric fever. As the
frost broke up, typhus broke out, and as days went
by food supplies got less.

One commodity after another had given out in
the town. For months there had been no sugar,
no tea, no candles, no soap and no paraffin. The
city granaries were empty and swept, and the small
supply of poor grain which the household needed
was only secured through the kindness of friends

248 SOMETHING HAPPENED

who, terrified at the risk they ran, stole in after
dark with a bag of millet wrapped in an old coat.
If it were discovered that anyone had a store of
grain the soldiers immediately swooped down and
carried it away for army use, and very shortly
there would be nothing left in the oasis. Something
had to be done and done quickly.

General Lei had issued clear orders about the
foreign women - they were not to leave the
oasis. His competent men had the situation in
hand, and having set a guard at the only possible
exit, they troubled no more about them, and their
difficult position. From the Christian household
prayer went up continually for wisdom to act at
all times discreetly, and for intelligence to see the
indication, when deliverance was at hand. The
answer to the prayer for wisdom caused them to
reserve, through all the shortage, a hidden store
of provision, sufficient to take them across Gobi.
The answer to the prayer for alertness made them
conscious at a certain hour in early April, and after
eight months of detention, that they were to move.
Experience of God's deliverances gave them courage
to obey.

Their trusty servant was immediately told that
they intended to visit the north border of the oasis
and that they would carry the reserve food supply

AMONG THE BANDITS 249

with them. Being a wise man, he asked no ques-
tions. It was important to delay discovery of the
flight, and the rooms were arranged so as to make
any one who peeped through the paper window
believe them to be inhabited. The gay pictures
remained on the wall, the table was decked with
empty tins, and an abandoned quilt was spread
out conspicuously, while the brazier was made
ready as though for use on return. No money
was owing, and even the rent was paid up to date,
for those " unaccountable women " had given it
in advance.

At night, and in secret, the carts were packed
with the reserve flour hidden behind sleeping-bags.
As the city gates opened before the town had
finished its morning dose of opium, they slipped
out by the south gate and, their destination being
due north, so soon as they were out of sight, they
made the necessary detour.

They reached the last farm on the northern border
without meeting anything or anyone to confirm
the rightness of the step they had taken, but at
this place they stopped the cart at a threshing-
floor, and enquired of the peasants where the
military guards were located.

" They live in yonder temple," was the answer.
" But," the old farmer added, " they are not there

Z50 SOMETHING HAPPENED

just now. They rode away this morning and we
have not seen them since."

This was guidance, and one more step was clear.
What lay beyond that no one could know, but
this much was certain - without hesitation they
must make a dash for Gobi, under cover of dark-
ness.

*

Between them and honest desert lay treacherous
land, intersected with deep channels cut for oasis
irrigation. It was not a cart road and the mules
strained and sweated in the sticky mud of the
ditches and up the steep banks. Again and again
it seemed as if the axles must snap. It was mid-
night before they got through the labyrinth of
canals on to firmer ground, and the morning star
was visible when they lay down to sleep behind the
sand-mounds at the fording place of a wide river.
At sunrise a servant called :

" Teacher, there is a man hiding in the reeds, who
is dressed in grey, but we cannot see if he is a
brigand."

" Then you had better go at once and find out."

He disappeared and came again with a man who
bore the stamp of a deserter on every line of him.
His old, shabby uniform was worn inside-out, and
a wide blue cotton sash round his waist, was

AMONG THE BANDITS 2JI

intended to make him look like a farmer. Deserters
are no menace even to runaways, so the Trio shared
their breakfast with him, and when he saw they
were as anxious as he to avoid the military, he
shared information of the road with them.

"Things could not be worse," he said; "the
houses at every stage are burnt out."

" Are there any inns open ? " they enquired.

" Inns I You will not see a creature between
here and the Turkestan frontier, unless you happen
to meet scouts from over there," he exclaimed,
jerking his chin in the direction of brigand head-
quarters.

" What about the wells ? " the Trio asked, voicing
their chief fear, which was that the oasis wells
should have been choked by fleeing armies, for,
if this were the case, there was no escape for them.

" You will find water at the next stage," the man
said, " but after that I do not know. It is uncer-

tain."

The river ahead was an old enemy. Once before
it had nearly taken the lives of the Trio and even
the recognised fording place was sometimes a
menacing quicksand. Every rope and strap was
examined before the animals got the lash which
sent them ovet and down the sandy edge into the
swirling torrent. With shouts and deft touches of

,252 SOMETHING HAPPENED

the whip, the clever drive* guided the team from
point to point of the dangerous crossing, until
with a final yell the mules sprinted up the steep
bank.

The crossing of rushing torrents, the depth of
whose waters and the condition of whose bed was
incalculable, has been one of the Trio's worst
perils. Sometimes it is a sudden rush of water
sweeping everything before it, sometimes a collaps-
ing bank, and sometimes a shifting of the quick-
sands into which cart and mules sink in a moment.
All these things the Trio had experienced and at
every river-crossing someone would say :

" When I reach the verge of Jordan
Bid my anxious fears subside ;
Death of deaths and hell's destruction
Land me safe on Canaan's side."

Now time was everything, and they crossed
without a hitch. A journey across Gobi by such
unused tracks, could not have been attempted with-
out a carter who was a local man. He had tested
every way across the desert and seemed to smell
out water like a horse. On the other side of the
river was a sandy plain of such peculiar quality
that any cart which stood for a moment sank to

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AMONG THE BANDITS 253

the axle O^ith every beast harnessed to each cart
In turn, they went over at a gallop while.the passen-
gers toiled behind, sinking at each step to their
ankles. Thus one more danger was passed, and
at last the solid, resisting, stony floor of Black
Gobi was reached. With a feeling that the worst
was over, and that two more days would bring them
to a main desert track, the party pushed hopefully
on.

They had travelled for some hours when suddenly
there was a shout, and looking back they saw two
brigands galloping behind, calling on them to
halt.

" It is all up," whispered the distressed servant.
" They have caught us."

" We are scouts from headquarters rounding up
deserters and patrolling Gobi, with orders to
arrest any travellers," the armed men said. " We
saw the marks of your cart wheels and followed you
up. Where have you come from and where are
you going ? "

" We are travelling to Turkestan."

" How is that ? The General forbids anyone to
go that way."

Seeing how confident and unperturbed the
women looked in face of this challenge, the soldier
hesitated and said :

254 SOMETHING HAPPENED

" Have you a special permit ? "

In a flash the man's words gave a clue to Mildred,
who, alert for guidance, stood waiting. Turning
to Evangeline, sitting inside the cart, she said
quietly : " Give me a passport."

Then, without a word, she handed over to the
bandit, her Central Government Passport, the
credential which every missionary carries. At the
sight of this impressive paper with its scarlet seals,
the men stared. In the mercy of God they were
wholly illiterate. Not one single ideograph could
they recognise, but it was incredible to them that
a document so magnificent could be issued by any-
one save their own war lord. The spokesman
looked it over, then without a word he folded it,
handed it back, saluted, and said :

"Pass onl The stages ahead are worse than
you think, and you may not be able to get through,
but if you have trouble there are parties of our
scouts patrolling and they will escort you back to
the General's camp. He will take care of you."

The men rode swiftly off and the party went
forward, but all suddenly realised that they were
in much greater danger than they had allowed
themselves to believe. With bands of scouts
about, they ran a risk of being challenged again,
and the next men would probably not be illit-

AMONG THE BANDITS 255

erate and might insist on detaining them. This time
they had been guided and delivered wondrously,
yet Mildred, true to the phrenologist's prognostica-
tions, found faith so difficult that she pursued her
way tormented by every manner of questioning
and doubt.

Although rebuked by an inner voice which
asked : " Why so fearful ? How is it that you do
not understand ? " it was long before equilibrium
was restored and the memory of past deliverances
brought confidence.

By forced marches it would take them four days
to reach the Turkestan frontier station at Baboon
Pass, which is fixed in a rocky ravine at mid-Gobi.
Here the normal strength of the military garrison
was one thousand and in this time of warfare it no
doubt would be reinforced. Once within those
lines they should be safe.

Between the fear of pursuit and the desolation
of that howling wilderness the strain was almost
intolerable. Not one living creature did they
meet, but all around was the devastation of battle-
fields where a pursuing army and the retreating
bandits had fought it out. Wolves had been
busy, but blood-smeared uniforms were scattered
about and everywhere lay bones of men and of
horses-.

256 SOMETHING HAPPENED

The strength of the teams was tested to the utmost
and many times the carter declared that they could
pull no more on such limited rations. There could,
however, be no delay because the scouts had already
had time to report on the escaping party at brigand
headquarters, and the pursuers might be on their
tracks. On they pressed at a maximum speed of
three miles an hour, allowing only the briefest
time for feeding the mules, until they came to
the last stage before the frontier.

It was nearly midnight when they approached
the ruins of the oasis formerly known as Great
Spring. Nothing remained but a few blackened
walls and it was difficult to trace out the little street
where there had always been such friendly inter-
course between travellers. The desolation was
overpowering and reached its climax when, from
behind a mound of rubble, there crept out a man,
shaking with fear, whose terror was so great that
his lips could hardly frame the words :

" When I heard voices, I thought you were a
squad of brigands and I hid. Then I realised that
you were our own missionaries from the City of
Prodigals. Where have you come from? How
did you get here ? There has not been a traveller
through for months."

" What of the frontier ? " they asked.

AMONG THE BANDITS 257

"The military guard fled when a squad of
' The Thunderbolt's ' men showed themselves and
threw them into a panic. I ran and hid myself
here. There are still bands of them hiding about
in the hills and we never know when they will

come down."

The members of the caravan were very tired.

Nerves were overstrained by the terror of
pursuit.

The hour was midnight.

They were among ruins of weird and grotesque
shapes.

The ruins were full of the evidences of recent
battle, carnage and massacre.

They had only one lantern with which to grope
their way.

They had been startled by the man creeping out,
when they thought themselves alone.

The man's panic was infectious.

The hope of safe shelter they had counted on for
the next night, had vanished.

They were all hungry and there was no supper.

Out of these elements arose a condition which
made sleep difficult, but each of the three, unwilling
to communicate fear to the others, lay silent under
the stars. They were blessed, in that memory was

B

SOMETHING HAPPENED

stored with the great words of Scripture which
stabilise the mind, give renewal of vitality to the
nerves and bring the spirit back to confidence in
God.

" As the mountains are round about Jerusalem,
so the Lord is round about His people."

" God is our refuge and strength, a very present
help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear." .

"Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by
night."

" The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob
is our refuge."

When the morning star rose, two were asleep
and the third was quite calm because something had
happened.

Over the silent spaces of Gobi, a song had come
softly but with perfect distinctness. Its harmonies
and the cadence of its parts were heard as plainly
as though unseen choirs were singing. Not an
intonation of the great chorus was missing : " He
watching over Israel slumbers not nor sleeps. . . .
He slumbers not nor sleeps. ... He slumbers not
nor sleeps."

Then she fell asleep, conscious that the ever-
lasting arms were underneath her.

In a few hours they were off again, making for

AMONG THE BANDITS 259

Baboon Pass, that tortuous ravine whose rocks are
dotted with forts, and whose sandy floor is hollowed
into trenches and dug-outs. The regulars had
been fortifying the narrow defile for years and had
erected upright stones sufficient to hide a regiment
of men, each one standing invisible behind his own
splinter of rock. As the carts wound through the
gorge, generally buzzing with the activity of camp
life, the silence was oppressive, yet who could say
where snipers might be lurking among the bristling
stones, so cleverly arranged as to confuse the man-
like stone with the stone-like man ? By the time
the carts had driven right through the ravine, the
Trio had no doubt that the fortress was empty and
the men had fled, so again they did not delay one
moment longer than was necessary.

Four days later they saw on the horizon the
lovely sight of a willow tree with branches waving
in the wind, the first tree since they left the City of
Sands. This was the stage of " Flowing Water,"
where Eva had been nursed through cholera. It
was now a big concentration camp, where strings
of camels brought daily supplies of food, firewood
and fodder from Hami. Along with the army were
hundreds of stranded refugees, who were allowed
neither to move forward nor backward. Half-
naked and half-starved, they existed on uncertain

260 SOMETHING HAPPENED

rations, in return for which they had been obliged
to hand over all their possessions.

The arrival of the missionaries caused a tremen-
dous stir, for they were the only travellers who had
come that way for months, and seeing them, the
refugees hoped that the road had somehow opened.
Officials crowded round, eager for news, and the
soldiers were stirred up to a good anger and cursed
"The Thunderbolt" for all the trouble he had
brought on their country. The fighting was not
yet over, for what was banditry in Kansu had taken
the form of Moslem rebellion in Turkestan, where
the population is unruly Moslem and the govern-
ment Chinese.

The hills of Artem, where the Trio had been the
guests of the Mongol Khan, were the storm centre,
and thanks to the huge dumps of ammunition col-
lected there, the rebels were still able to hold their
own. ' y The fertile Hami oasis was untilled, every
farmhouse burnt out, all horses commandeered by
the military and the cattle had long since been
killed for food. The local garrison had held out
for months under siege by General Lei, but the
Moslem town, with the Khan's splendid palace,
was razed to the ground and the busy northern
bayar had been destroyed.

The Military Commandant of Hami issued orders

AMONG THE BANDITS 261

that the missionaries and party should be passed
through the danger zone into a quieter area with as
little delay as possible. Travel was neither pleasant
nor easy. The road skirted the foot of mountains
which were full of robbers, and the nights had often
to be spent under canvas in the loneliest places, for
the people had fled and the buildings were destroyed.
Several times raiding parties attacked the camps, and
once, on the other side of the foothills, they seized
and carried off a caravan of Russian women, holding
them as hostages for fifteen months. On another
occasion, the raiders only missed the Trio by a few
hours, but mercifully they did not know of these
happenings until later. Of one thing they were
conscious, that a strong pressure urged them for-
ward and suffered them not to delay anywhere.

In one lonely pass two uniformed men appeared
at midnight and hurried them forward on their
stage. Their manner and approach were mysterious,
nor did they seem to belong to the regular army.
The Chinese carters were greatly perturbed, for the
next march lay across a range of mountains and
over that lonely path the two horsemen rode with
the missionaries, who had no idea whether they
were escorted by friend or foe. They travelled for
hours, meeting no one and passing no dwelling.

Suddenly, in the depth of a narrow gorge, a man

262 SOMETHING HAPPENED

emerged from a rocky enclosure which could easily
have been passed and never noticed, so cleverly was
it concealed among the rocks. The two horsemen
turned aside and disappeared into the recess.
Immediately afterwards the strange, weird sound
of a lilted incantation was heard. The voice
ascended in pitch and increased in volume until
it held a terrifying quality, as it echoed and re-
echoed through the ravine, then suddenly ceased.
The Trio had no desire to delay in this sinister
spot and quickly pressed on, nor did they see the
escort again.

After leaving the mountains behind each stage
became more reassuring. Fields were under cul-
tivation and the peasants were busy at agricultural
pursuits, so that when a town was reached where
shops were open and there was food on sale, the
relief was greater than can be imagined. Reports
of what they had been through went ahead of
them, and though not a word regarding revolt,
rebellion or disaffection might be mentioned, evi-
dences of silent sympathy were shown everywhere.

The old spirit of mischief in Evangeline was not
dead yet, and as soon as they reached a place of
peace she organised a small escapade on her own.
The desert wind was blowing such a hurricane that
travel was impossible, but there were enough sleep-

AMONG THE BANDITS 263

less nights behind them for her companions to
welcome a day of enforced rest. Not so Eva, who
must needs wander out to explore the locality,
which was certainly particularly interesting.

In the middle of a stony plain was a small mound
and all around it a litter of strangely-shaped stones,
many of which showed signs of use by prehistoric
man. Up the mound went Eva, in spite of the
dangerous wind, and a moment later down she came
again, head foremost, carried off her feet and whirled
to the bottom. When she was able to pick herself
up she had lost all sense of time, locality, direction
and individuality.

One of the men found her staggering blindly
about and brought her back to the room, where
her companions were roused from a luxurious sleep
by a confused Eva, desiring to know who she was
and where she belonged. The incident was inter-
esting as showing that many deaths in the desert
may be accounted for by the bewildering effect
of the wind. How easily a traveller blown into
confusion, could miss the caravan, and, too stunned
to locate the points of the compass, be lost. Sleep
restored her and bed kept her passion for adventure
quiet, for that one day.

* *

From the high plateau of Gobi which, in early

264 SOMETHING HAPPENED

May, was still wind-swept and frigid, they drove day
by day gently downhill until they were below sea
level in the hollows of the great Turfan depression.
Here the vines were in flower, the apricots changing
colour and the gardens purple with ripe mulberries,
the oasis was a patch of emerald in an ocean of grey
sand. After a long night stage they reached the
first outlying vineyards at sunrise and, as they
passed, the gardener stepped out of his little sleep-
ing shelter to stare at the unusual cavalcade.

Seeing the weary travellers, he hailed them with
a friendly call : " Come down and rest and eat some
of my mulberries," he shouted, so the Trio alighted
and followed him through the gardens. The
women brought a large sheet of homespun cotton,
which they held under the boughs while he shook
down quantities of luscious fruit. The mulberries
were delicious and they all sat and ate them in the
shade of the trees, for as soon as the sun is up, the
wayfarer's only desire is to evade it. Then they
pushed on to the town.

In the suburbs everyone was busy, baking bread,
boiling soup and sorting fruit, but at the sight of
the carts there was excitement, for no one came
from a distance these days, and all were hungry
for news of the General's campaign. The men
were full of questions to which they only re-

AMONG THE BANDITS 265

ceived evasive answers, and the women gathered
round, each one with a gift of bread, fruit or the
offering of a cup of tea. This was not the Trio's
first visit, and little Topsy, who had won their
hearts last time, was the centre of attraction to the
children. They all wanted to see her again, and
there was a buzz of comment : " How she has
grown ! " " She does look happy." " See how long
her plaits are." "They love herliketheir own child."
One old Chinese man, selling hot meat dumplings
from a tray, pushed to the front and exclaimed :
" Why, it is little * Lonely,' who was ill-treated and
turned out to beg in the streets of my native town."
Then, turning to the crowd, he said: "The
Christians did a righteous act on the day they saved
that child, and she will certainly turn out well."

At last the driver started the mules and the crowd
had to fall back to let the party proceed to the inn.
Before the beasts were stabled a man in uniform
was requesting that the Trio present themselves
without delay at the passport office, and a smart
servant appeared with a message from the official's
lady, saying she hoped the missionaries had brought
their medicine-chest, as she was not well and wanted
them to come at once and give her something to
relieve headache. When a Chinese lady wants a
dose of medicine it is easier to get the visit over

266 SOMETHING HAPPENED

than to delay under the impatient urgings of the
servant, whose hope of a tip depends on bringing
the foreigner back with him, So the passports
were inspected, the lady's headache relieved, the
varied ailments of her immediate entourage attended
to, and her husband's enquiries about the general
conditions of road travel satisfied. Not till then
did the exhausted missionaries return to their inn,
having excused themselves from a luncheon at
which they were to meet a party of ailing aristocrats
and give them all free medical attendance.

The usual crowd of onlookers was waiting, a
gaping group of the absolutely occupationless
come to gratify the pleasure of watching the busy
at their work. Their conversation was a string of
observations, completely detached from any effort
of thought : " There are three of them." " The
little girl is deaf and dumb." "She eats their
food!" "They wear Chinese dress." "They
are drinking tea." " Two of them are real sisters,
the third is a dry sister." " They are all so much
alike you cannot distinguish them." " They were
here two years ago." "Last time they were
travelling east, now they are travelling west."
Under this fire of personal remarks and obvious
platitudes the Trio ate their brunch,* after which

* Brunch and Tuppet. Missionary combination meals.

AMONG THE BANDITS 267

everyone went to test during the unbearable heat
of the midday hour.

Before lying down, Mildred went to the stables
to see if the mules were taking their feed, and
a little later Evangeline, passing that way, saw
her lying unconscious in a pool of blood, her face
buried in the stable filth. In an agony of anxiety,
and not knowing if she were dead or alive, Eva
lifted her, and found that her head had been kicked
open by a vicious donkey. A stretcher was
improvised and Mildred was carried to the dirty
little fly-blown room, where her companions set to
work to wash the dirt out of the gaping wound.
The owner of the donkey was an Islamic fellow-
lodger, whose callous outlook it was, that a Moslem
donkey was quite justified in wishing to end the
life of a protagonist of the Christian religion.

The anxiety of such a situation is not easily
realised by those who have always lived within
reach of medical help. The fear of blood-poisoning,
the dread of tetanus, the impossibility of securing
quiet and the absence of surgical cleanliness makes
such an incident a nightmare for the nurses. Eva
and Francesca longed to convey her to silent, clean,
spacious Gobi, but unshaded desert was not to be
thought of in such temperatures. This was a case
for the Great Physician to tend and it was for Him

268 SOMETHING HAPPENED

to indicate how and where Mildred should be
nursed.

They turned to Him for instructions and instantly
remembered the kind gardener who had fed them
with mulberries. If he would allow a tent to be
pitched by his karl^ they would get the shade of
his trees on one side and the spaces of open desert
on the other. A messenger was sent, and next
day, laid in the cart, the now conscious but suffering
patient endured the lurches and bumps as the
springless vehicle lumbered over the uneven roads.
The same kind women now wrung their hands by
the roadside and said: "God knows about it I
God knows about it I "

The kari^ was better than they hoped. The
rushing stream was clean, and two great trees threw
alternate shade across the tent. After the oppres-
sive staleness of the inn enclosure the fresh night
air brought healing sleep. Next morning cartloads
of visitors began to arrive ; the carts all drew up at
the mulberry garden, where they disgorged parties
of women dressed in their best and laden with
presents. In one wild flash of fear the nurses
imagined them to be patients, following up the
doctor and laden with bribes to insure attention,
but mercifully it was not so. A little further on
was a farm where the first daughter-in-law had just

AMONG THE BANDITS 269

borne her first son, and this was the celebration of
a Nazre. This is supposed to be a distribution of
food, by the rich to the poor, but it is apt to take
the form of inviting relatives and rich neighbours,
who will all bring gifts and in due course return
the invitation, and so repay. In the course of that
day one hundred and twenty guests of the Nazre
stopped to call at the hospital tent, and by evening
Evangeline's knowledge of the Turfan colloquial
was so much increased, that she was familiar with
the complete gamut of Nazre talk.

The guests behaved fairly well, except the boys
between the ages of ten to sixteen who, towards
evening, collected for a row. Moslem villages are
terrorised by their schoolboys, and the fathers,
who want to see the children develop a full measure
of arrogance and assertiveness, will not control a
youth, lest his spirit be in any way tamed and the
lust of fight reduced. To the Trio it was no cause
of rejoicing at all that another bold brat should
have been added to the male constituency of the
neighbourhood, and the joys of Nazre left them
cold. The boys formed a gang, demanded Scrip-
tures to burn, stood at a short distance and lashed
themselves to fury with rhythmic yells. The Trio
had previous experience of having been severely
stoned by just such a band of wild Moslem hooligans

27 SOMETHING HAPPENED

and, in the circumstances, did not want a repetition
of such doings.

Things were getting serious and at last Evangeline
went out to deal with the situation. Parents
always keep out of the way when their sons are on
the warpath, but Evangeline, the experienced, was
up to them, and seeing a turbaned Ahung lurking
in the distance she approached him :

"Ahung," she said, "you may know that we
have a very sick person here." He murmured
assent.

" Listen to those boys. How can a sick person
recover in all that noise ? " Then before he had
time to answer, she continued : " We are strangers
here and we know that this is your town, but we
have pitched our tent on the Gobi which is no man's
land. If you wish us to leave, we will move on,
but you must take the responsibility of sending us
away, as it may be serious for the patient."

Terrified at the mere sound of the word responsi-
bility, he became active at once.

"Those troublesome children," he said. "It
takes all my time to keep them in order. You must
not think of moving. We like you to be here."

In half an hour the incident was closed, the
children were scattered, the patient was quiet, and
there was no more trouble.

AMONG THE BANDITS 271

As soon as Mildred was well enough, the party
moved on, travelling northward towards the capital
of Chinese Turkestan, Urumtsi. The wound,
which might so easily have proved fatal, healed and
left no permanent injury to eye or head. Some
unseen leaf of healing must have been laid upon
it. The scar remains and that she will always
carry. It is a witness that she fought and was
wounded in the battles of the Lord, Who will
some day be her Rewarder.

For the first stage they followed the foot of the
Flame Hills, whose colour and formation has won
them this name and, indeed, under the rays of the
setting sun, their colour was so glowing, that the
ridges which furrowed the sides, were as flames
licking them from base to summit.

In the hot afternoon the carts rumbled into the
narrow street of Tuyok down which there rushed
a stream of clear water. It was more like a village
of Tuscany than Central Asia, and bare-footed
women stood ankle-deep in the water filling their
gourds. The vines were in flower, the fragrance
was intoxicating and the brilliant green of the
vineyards, against the flame-coloured background,
was a sight never to be forgotten.

When she saw Mildred's bandaged head, a woman
came forward to otter the hospitality of her home.

272 SOMETHING HAPPENED

Seeing how much the patient was suffering, she
helped to carry her through the narrow doorways
into a large room built on all four sides in a latticed
brickwork which secured all the coolness possible.
The floor was spread with fine, Khotan rugs and
on these Mildred was laid, her head on the woman's
own pillow. All afternoon that woman sat by her
side, held her hand, fed her with mulberries and
gave her frequent drinks of a special infusion which
she said was a certain cure for headache. She
guarded the room fiercely and would allow no one
to disturb her charge. This happened in the very
place where two years previously the Trio had
been cursed and stoned.

The show place of Tuyok is its Mosque of the
Seven Sleepers, built over the frontage of a cave in
which it is believed that seven men went into retreat
for one thousand years. When they emerged it
was to find that the world had not improved during
their absence, so they determined to rest a little
longer and only reappear when men were ready
for their message. This time a small dog followed
them, and when they would have driven it away,
it opened its mouth and rebuked them, saying :
" Though but a dog am I not also a creation of
Allah ? " Because of that great word they allowed
it to stay and share the sleep of ages.

AMONG THE BANDITS 273

Round the mosque entrance several obos had
been erected, such as are common in Tibet and
Mongolia, and they were decorated with tufts of
hair, bleached bones and other such contemptible
offerings. The Hadjis stood around and read a
liturgy after which they entered into conversation
with the Christians, trying, as usual, to draw them
into controversy regarding the nature of the God-
head, but the missionaries knew better than to let
themselves be drawn into futile discussions. In
the secret depths of his heart, the Hadji knows full
well that neither his pilgrimage to Mecca nor the
blood of goats shed at his mosque door, can
remove sin, and the important thing is to let him
hear the declaration of God concerning atonement.
He may spit at what he calls blasphemous words,
but truth cuts, for the Logos of God is a living
thing, active and more cutting than any sword
with double edge, penetrating to the very division
of soul and spirit, joints and marrow - scrutinising
the very thoughts and conceptions of the heart.

From Tuyok the Trio travelled on over a great
plain where many massive earth-works, ancient
tombs and crumbling buildings, tell of former
glories. fi The most striking was the ruined city
called by the Turkis, City of Dakianus. Sur-
rounded by a mighty wall of earth, it is full of

274 SOMETHING HAPPENED

stately remains among which they walked for miles,
tracing out the plan of the town. In the centre
stand the remains of the King's Palace and in some
of the buildings there are still flaking frescoes,
representing Buddhist and Christian subjects. The
neighbouring farmers own some remarkable an-
tiquities-Grecian statue heads, bricks decorated
in Grecian style and elegant vases, all of which
have been dug up by the agriculturists, who are
rapidly levelling the City of Dakianus and reducing
it to the status of a ploughed field.

The villages of the Turkestan south trade-route
spread themselves in a luxuriant land, whose pro-
duce is so abundant that the energies of half the
population are used to transport its superfluity
elsewhere. This has to be paid for in climate, and
the heat haze which hangs over the watered land
saps the life of all, save the natives inured to its
oppression.

In that hot-house atmosphere the vines are so
prolific that they bear enough seedless grapes to
supply a great part of Asia with sultanas, and the
grape-drying houses, built for ventilation of latticed
mud-brick, add a touch of beauty to the vineyards,
whose brilliant green stretches out to the foot of
the Flame Mountains.

Spread out over the sandy spaces are the melon

AMONG THE BANDITS 275

gardens, watered by cleverly contrived irrigation
channels, with perfect fruit lying out on the dry
pebbles over which the hot air quivers. Orchards
of apricot, nectarine, peach and mulberry, bear
bountifully in their seasons, but of all theit sun-
dried fruits the best is that juicy apricot which
dries to a clear gold. From each fruit the stone
is removed, cracked, and the kernel folded back
into the soft yellow flesh.

When the cotton ripens every available man is
called upon to pack it in huge bales, lade it on
camels and carry it elsewhere, and at the season of
ripening corn the land is golden with mounds of
maize cobs.

The people who dwell in the midst of this plenty
have to bear all the toil of the land's over-produc-
tiveness, and all the exhaustion of the climate, so
suitable for vegetation, and so devitalising to man.
In April the heat begins to rise in successive waves,
through May the inhabitants sweat, and in June
they leave the surface of the soil to live in dug-
outs; for every town house and every farm has
underground rooms in which the family eats and
rests. In July a man may lose his life by merely
walking across the plain at midday.

These Turkis are a burly people ; hardy, muscu-
lar, enduring, impetuous, quarrelsome and

276 SOMETHING HAPPENED

quick-tempered. Their religion is Mohammedan-
ism, and by its teaching they have been trained
to admire arrogance, mercilessness and intolerance.
To these characteristics they add a discipline which
is sufficiently strong to compel them to organise
life for five periods of public prayer a day, and for
a month of severe fast once each year. Even if
the fast falls in the torrid summer heat, neither
food water nor fruit may pass the lips during the
long hours from sunrise to sunset.
: The populace is awakened at dawn by a
sonorous voice from the minaret, calling the faithful
to be up and pray, and in the midst of the busy mart
the Moslem must make time, when that call is
repeated, for exacting ablutions and for prayer.
The discipline of abstinence is sometimes carried to
lengths of real mortification for, as though the ordi-
nary demands of Ramazan* were not sufficient, the
lonely mountain mosques have caves, where holy
men are built in for a forty days' fast. The earth
cave, the mud bed, the tiny inaccessible window, are
all there, waking for the next penitent and, lying in
a little heap on the ground, are ninety-nine pebbles,
with which as they slid between his fingers, the last
immured man told off the attributes of Allah.
The woman's life is otherwise ordered, as she

* Ramazan. The ninth month of the Mohammedan year when the
faithful must fast.

AMONG THE BANDITS 277

exists only for the satisfaction of man's lust, to beat
his children and incidentally to minister to his
material comforts. Only if, through a lifetime,
she manages to keep the favour of her lord, has she
the hope of being a houri* in some Moslem paradise.
But the Central Asian woman has the turbulent
characteristics of her race, and a man often finds his
hands full with the riotous elements of his women's
quarters. The bride comes young, before she is
fully a woman, and if her husband be a boy little
older than herself, the two children soon squabble.
If they make it up, well and good, but if things go
too far, she is sent back to her parents, who have to
find another home for her. Very often the husband
is a middle-aged man, who knows by experience
how to handle girls ; then he is probably one who
likes frequent changes, and in six months' time he
will be writing out the bill of repudiation for her.
Sometimes he is an old satyr, and the marriage ends
in a dose of poison.

They add so much to the beauty of the scene,
these lightly-veiled village girls. No dress is too
brilliant for their colour-loving natures, and the
little velvet cap, which holds the veil in place,
sparkles with gold thread and spangles. They
carry themselves with a grace peculiar to those who

* Houri. Nymph of Mohammedan Paradise.

SOMETHING HAPPENED

walk barefoot, and unconsciously strike the most
charming attitudes, as they gather by the fountain
with their water-pots. The rich man's wife is a
sadder woman ; secluded in her own quarters behind
a shut door, and never allowed outside, except in a
curtained cart, she spends the day in gossip, intrigue,
quarrels, and in making up her face in a pitiful
effort to hold the attentions of her master.

Moslem women's quarters are not accessible to
the Christian missionary, unless the hand of God
opens the door, but in the case of the Trio something
had happened elsewhere which ensured a welcome
for them among certain important merchants, and
when the richest Ahung invited them to his house,
all the lesser men followed suit till there were more
homes open than they had time to enter. To the
Trio it was a coveted privilege, for the burden of
Moslem women had been heavy upon them, and
there was no Christian woman missionary in any of
these towns.

To have the door flung open was one thing,
but what would they find the other side of the
threshold ? Every thought, habit, convention, and
tradition which made up the mental setting of
those women's lives was antagonistic to Chris-
tianity. Brought up to believe themselves soul-
less, it was simpler for them to accept the situation

AMONG THE BANDITS 279

and substitute the physical for the spiritual. To
admit even the possibility of spiritual issues, meant
the liberating of forces which must always, and in-
evitably, be at war with each other, and threaten the
elemental calm of a life circumscribed by eating,
drinking and fertility, The missionary, like his
Master, is not to be thought of as bringing peace
but a sword, and he may well set those of one
household at variance with each other. To have
had a window once opened into the soul through
which a ray of light has penetrated, and awakened
the smothered spirit, is an experience from which
emerges a personal responsibility towards God, and
its inevitable sequence, a sense of sin.
; In a large, wealthy Central Asian household is a
woman now barely thirty-five years of age, but who
has more than a lifetime of trouble behind her.
She was born into this family, and was the rich
man's petted daughter. Her mother was the
favoured wife, and little Patima lorded it some-
what over the children of the lesser wives, who
came and went according to her father's whim.
Until the age of eleven she was spoilt, petted, fed
with dainties, indulged and dressed in the gayest
and most expensive clothes.
i There were many suitors for little Patima's hand,
as marriage with her meant relationship with one

280 SOMETHING HAPPENED

of Central Asia's great merchants. Every point of
each proposed bridegroom was discussed in the
women's quarters, and when the selection was made,
she was told in detail of the delights ahead. On the
marriage day she was bathed, perfumed, dressed in
silk, decked with flowers, and a broad, black band
was painted across her eyebrows. Then swathed
in a silken veil, she was sent away and instructed
henceforth to cover her face at the approach of
any man, unless he be her husband.

The bridegroom was a spoilt, selfish, bullet-
headed boy with staring eyes and an assertive
manner, who had been accustomed to see his
mother and her co-wives beaten for their slightest
fault. Though but twelve years old he knew that
a woman had no rights, and that her only purpose
was for his pleasure. - When the marriage festivities
were over and he first lifted his bride's veil he was
pleased enough with his new toy, for the lovely
child Patima had large, lustrous eyes and two long
plaits to her knees. His mother also was glad to
add so charming a daughter-in-law to her house-
hold, but little Patima was not the daughter of the
house here, and from the beginning she must learn
subservience, obedience and docility in the presence
of her mother-in-law, as well as absolute yieldingness
to every whim of her boy husband.

AMONG THE BANDITS l8l

It only took a few days for the children to quarrel,
and the violent boy to snatch a stick and give her
a good beating, after which he went off to school
and boasted of his prowess among the other scholars.
When his mother found the girl in tears she scolded,
and told her she only got what she deserved.
Within three months the children heartily disliked
each other, and the mother-in-law was telling
everyone that the rich man's daughter was unbear-
able. One evening there was a big flare up and
little Patima, sick at heart because everyone was
against her, crept out to the front door and crouched,
gently wailing, under the oleander tree. Just before
dark a man passed that way. He looked, stood a
moment and came closer. When he spoke it was
very gently :

" What is the matter, little girl ? "

" My heart is full of trouble," she answered.

" Why should your heart be troubled, little gay
one ? " he asked.

"Because everybody hates me. They beat me
and I want to get home to my mother," she sobbed.

" Come with me and I will take you to your
mother."

Without a word little Patima drew her veil
around her, stood up and followed the stranger,
but the house to which he took her was not her

282 SOMETHING HAPPENED

mother's home, but a place from which there was
no escape. Her naughty child-husband was ex-
changed for an evil owner, who kept her himself
for a few weeks and then sold her. In a few years
she passed several times from hand to hand.

At the age of eighteen she was in Kashgar, the
seductive beauty of a traveller's serai. By this time
all men, Turki, Chinese, Hindu or Russian were
alike to her, but there was one Chinese who came
to her room more often than the others and he
pleased her, because his ways were gentler, and he
was less exacting than her own people. He spoke
her language well and gradually drew her story
from her, then one day he spoke :

"Patima-han, I am going back to my own
country. Do you come with me and be my wife.
The women there are not veiled as you are, and
you can do as you like in a home of your own."

Impulsively she blessed Allah for this piece of
good fortune and closed with the offer. The
thing had to be planned secretly, but it could be
managed, for she was not strictly watched, and
when the time came she wrapped her veil closely
round her and followed the man through the streets.
At dawn, when the city gates were opened, they
slipped out, and vanished into the trade routes.
For three months they rode on every day, Patima

AMONG THE BANDITS 283

astride a donkey, and the Chinese riding a tall mule,
till they came over the great Salt desert to the first
town of China. There she lived as wife to this
man long enough to have lost the freshness of her
beauty, and to see him gradually become the victim
of his nation's curse - opium, to which he yielded
without an effort. The Chinese women despised
her as a foreigner, and the Moslem women spat at
her for being the mistress of an idolater. She
had not even the consolation of a child, for she was
that accursed thing, a barren woman.

One day a Chinese woman came to the inn where
Patima lived. She was ailing, and long travel had
robbed her of all her strength. After a few days
her child, a little girl, was born, and Patima helped
her. More skilled care, however, was needed if the
mother were to pull through, and as this skill was
not available, she died within a few hours, of ex-
haustion. The little baby was left in the arms of
kind Patima, who took the child, spoke to it in her
own language, and shaved the hair of its baby head
into the pattern peculiar to a Turki girl. As her
husband became more neglectful and poverty over-
took them, first her ornaments, then her clothes
were exchanged for opium, but she clung the more
passionately to little Ginesta. She was frightened,
because she saw her husband going headlong to

284 SOMETHING HAPPENED

ruin and, listening to the talk of the Turkis on the
ba^ofy she knew that terrible times were coming
when Turkis and Chinese would be killing each
other. What then would her position be - a Turki
woman with a Chinese husband ?

Three Western women were living in the same
town, and one day Patima said to herself : " Those
three women are foreigners and I am a foreigner
too, so I will go and see them." On that plea
she first crossed a Christian threshold. They were
immediately friends, for she was a very lovable
woman, spontaneous and expansive in every ex-
pression of her affection. '

The Trio were needing a Turki teacher and asked
her to come and help them, so it came to pass that
she spent some time each day with her friends, and
every day the lesson centred round some picture
which told a story with unexpected meanings. She
was deeply interested, because the stories that held
such wisdom were merely incidents of everyday
life, as that of the father whose son ran away from
home and who loved him back, and the other
about a man who took a Gobi journey and met
bandits who nearly killed him and he must have
died of wounds, but that some good man came along
and took charge of him. Her favourite was that
about the shepherd, who had a flock of a hundred

AMONG THE BANDITS 285

sheep and who lost a little one from it. When
she said to the missionary : " If it was a weai one
it would not matte* losing it," the missionary said :
" That Shepherd would die to save the poorest of
His sheep." She never forgot that.

Then her friends left the town on a long journey,
and she was lonely again. Just about this time she
had a letter from her home, which came in answer
to a message someone had taken for her, and it
brought her permission to return to her own
people again. It was a three months' journey to
get there, but irresistible nostalgia had her in its
grip, and when a man offered to take her back to
her own people if she would travel with him as
temporary wife, she agreed. So with little Ginesta,
she set out once more across the great desert.

She travelled for two weeks, and each day hope
and fear alternated in her mind. Would this man
betray her as every man had always betrayed her,
and strand her in some impossible position ? Or
would he take little Ginesta and sell her in one of
the towns where girls were so expensive? Or
would she get safe home, to that paradise of her
childhood, once more ?

One evening at a lonely Gobi stage she crouched
at the tent door, blowing up the camp-fire to make
a meal. When she lifted her eyes she could scarcely

286 SOMETHING HAPPENED

believe that she was seeing aright. Those three
foreign women, her dear friends, were coming
down the toad in their carts. With one bound
she was by their side and the next moment they
were clasped in each other's arms, she pouring out
the story of this new venture, while the tall, stern
Turki stood by, watching the strange scene.

" A letter came from my people," she explained
excitedly. " They say I may go home, and they
will receive me back and take little Ginesta in also."

The Trio listened to it all with aching hearts.
Her blind desire to see her parents once more, made
her completely overlook the fact that, even if the
man kept his word, she would only enter the door
of that proud house as a despised and rejected
woman, to do menial service with the lowest of
the slaves.

But Patima knew that which no one else in that
rich house had heard. She knew she had a Father
in heaven and that there was One named Jesus -
Ai-sa they called Him - Who loved her so much
that He died for her. She had no words to say
what she felt about it, but it was so wonderful, almost
too wonderful to be, that God's own Son should
come from heaven and die to save - Patima.

Dear Patima! There are many like you in
Central Asia, broken by men and mended by God.

PART EIGHT
AMONG THE EUROPEANS

" The little road says go,

The little house says stay,
And O, it's bonny here at home
But I must go away.

And go I must, my dears,

And journey while I may,
Though heart be sore for the little house

That had no word but stay."

AMONG THE EUROPEANS

THE spirit of revolt and rebellion stirred by " The
Thunderbolt," spread like a forest fire through
Turkestan. Here and there was an ambitious man
to whom any revolt, rebellion, war or insurrection
appealed as a possible occasion for self-aggrandise-
ment. The populace might suffer, but so long as
he was promoted and rose to greater power, he
cared not a whit.

The provincial Governor was too feeble for
strong action, but under the domination of panic,
capable of wild actions. With unreasoning caprice
he exalted one man and put down another, and the
one who was his adviser to-day fell under suspicion
to-morrow. Shootings and executions kept the
capital in a ferment. He betrayed the Turkis by
making a prisoner of their racial ruler, the young
Khan, and turned the best of his Mongolian troops
against himself by treacherously inducing their
leader to enter his Yamen, and then killing him.
The nearer trouble came, the more wildly he be-
haved, until his terrors were such that he lived
behind locked doors surrounded by a triple guard
of armed men.

290 SOMETHING HAPPENED

For the people there was not even the safety
valve of free speech, newspapers were forbidden,
and an army - of censors controlled every channel
through which information might circulate. Spies
were everywhere, and gained promotion according
to the frequency of their reports. The infuriated
Turkis saw, in union with " The Thunderbolt's "
army, a possible means of overthrowing the
Government, and their storm centre was Kami.
Kashgar produced its own war lord who started the
blaze in the west of the province, and midway
between the two the Karashar Mongols laid their
plans. The turbulent Tungan is always ready for
revolt, so the whole province became daily more
excited.

The Trio were perfectly conscious that they were
being steadily pressed onwards toward the Russian
border and Europe, with the forest fire of revolt
coming up behind them. They therefore made the
necessary applications -for passports, and guidance
was confirmed when the best-informed of their
friends came to bring news that " The Thunderbolt "
was marching on the town where they were staying,
and if they did not wish to see him they had better
not delay. So they moved on from stage to stage
across the great Dzungarian plain, until they reached
the City of Seagulls, the last town of Turkestan.

AMONG THE EUROPEANS 291

Many things happened by the way. Among
them was the reunion with a certain young girl
who had come to Christ in the City of Prodigals.
Her father was Judge of the North- West area.
IJe got into trouble when a band of men were brave
enough to resist the attack of a gang of Moslem
robbers, and brought one of the thieves to justice.
The Judge condemned him, but a few days later
the Moslem party demanded his release, and the
Judge confronted the test which comes sooner or
later to every mandarin of the North-West, who
must finally bow to Islam, or lose his post.

The Judge had two daughters, girls of sixteen and
eighteen, who were very friendly with the mission-
aries. One day something happened. At a certain
meeting one of the Trio was speaking about a man
who sowed good seed in his land, which never
came to fruition because the soil on which it fell
was hard and stony. She then told of the Saviour
who, though the Lord and Giver of Life, could be
rejected by lack of response in human hearts.
That day Pearl went home and made her decision,
then she brought her young sister to Christ. A
few months later they both asked for baptism
and the father, being an exceptionally intelligent
and broad-minded man, consented, saying : " My
daughters' religion is their personal matter ; they

292 SOMETHING HAPPENED

may do as they will." The baptismal service was
held one Friday, and the two girls were to take their
first Communion on the Sunday, but on Saturday
night word reached the Judge that his life was in
danger, and before dawn the whole family fled to
an unknown destination.

The Trio never knew, until they reached Turkes-
tan, where their friends had found shelter. The
family had been through seas of trouble and the
girls had learnt more about prayer, experimentally,
than any could have taught them. At the frontier
their father had come within an ace of being shot
and in Kami they had been caught in the siege,
and nearly starved, but now the father once more
had a good post and his daughters were earning
their living as teachers, and making a good con-
fession of their faith.

The missionary has to endure so much disap-
pointment, and so often to see those who make a
good beginning fail to endure, that when he sees
fruit from a handful of seed scattered broadcast,
as was a case in the City of Sands, or finds character
develop and growth proceed without human nur-
ture, as was evident with Pearl and her sister, it
sends him on his way rejoicing.

The last three weeks of the long journey, which

AMONG THE EUROPEANS 293

began in April at the City of Sands and ended in
September at the City of Seagulls, was taken in a
Russian peasant cart driven by Piotr, formerly
private in the Cossack battalion which guarded
the last of the Czars. His three horses trotted
abreast, the bells jingling merrily and Piotr inces-
santly flourishing a short-handled whip, urging
them on to greater speed.

It was part of his responsibility to see that each
evening there was shelter for the night, and at
midday he would halt by a stream where the kettle
was filled, and slung from the shaft of the brlshka
over a smouldering fire of dried cow-dung, which
everyone helped to collect. When the kettle
boiled all shared the tea and soaked their dry bread
in the fragrant steaming infusion.

The road over which they were travelling was
the main route which connects Chinese Turkestan
with Southern Siberia. During the first part of
the journey they passed through large and important
towns, including Manas, the great grain market of
Turkestan. Everywhere was the joy of harvest,
and the threshing-floors were a sight to make glad
the heart of man. It was a land of plenty and there
was abundance of grain, with apples, pears, grapes
and every kind of vegetable.
As yet there were neither brigands, beggars nor

294 SOMETHING HAPPENED

starving people, but six months later there was
slaughter and famine in Turkestan also.

The bazars were alive with business, Mongolian
men and women bartered pelts for grain, Qazaqs
and Khirghiz encumbered the road, riding through
the basytr to the shop doors where, refusing to
alight, they bargained from their seat of vantage
for some Russian commodity. Samovars, china
bowls and brass basins were the favourite purchases,
but even sewing-machines were skilfully balanced
across the saddle, and carried off to distant tents by
the steppe-dwellers.

Later on the Trio came to mountainous country
where, in place of towns, were the encampments
of the nomads. By religion Moslem, by politics
partisan of the U.S.S.R., intelligent, virile, adaptable
and ready for education, the Qazaq is on one point
inflexible - nomad he was born and nomad he will
remain. At mere sight of the model dwellings
which the Soviet Ministry of Housing has pre-
pared for him, he stealthily rolls up his tent and
slips across the border to the Turkestan pastures.
The substantial felt tents hold all he needs for com-
fort. Heavy rugs cover the ground, and splendid
metal-faced boxes hold good clothes, while the
cooking and eating utensils are of shining copper
and gay china.

Aggressive Evangelism.
A Qazaq woman meets Mildred Cable.

AMONG THE EUROPEANS 295

Sometimes, when the Trio lifted the curtain,
they would see a group of women sitting on the
floor round a sewing-machine, on which the
mother was running up carelessly made garments
for the family. The brilliantly coloured gowns
were decorated with buttons, and over the robe a
short, velvet coat was worn.

These Qazaq women offered a picturesque sight,
standing round the tent door, gaily dressed
and faces swathed in a white wimple. Though
Moslems, they were not closely veiled, and
strode rapidly about the pastures, with a swing
of capacity.

They were interested in the missionaries but
having, as a people, accepted Mohammedanism,
they now view the messenger of Christ with sus-
picion.

When the Trio halted at one camping-ground,
a splendid young woman, wearing an olive-green
dress over riding-breeches, and a pink kerchief on
her head, strode out of a tent to greet them. She
was delighted to talk with Western women and
revealed an unexpected amount of general infor-
mation regarding world events. Her brother, a
student in Moscow, had taught her many things,
including some Latin. There were various points
of interest in the neighbourhood and she took the

296 SOMETHING HAPPENED

Trio found to view them, eager to impart and eager
to learn.

If -if -one of the many tragic "ifs" which
cause the missionary to groan in spirit -if the
Church of Christ had only been about its business,
even fifty years ago, when one pioneer missionary
had already pointed out this very area as suitable
for immediate evangelisation - if then the wrangling
sects had ceased from noisy controversy about
ecclesiastical minutiae and hair-splitting differences
of interpretation, there might have been silence
enough in which to hear the command of God
sending some to these very people. The way
then was simple, and free from international com-
plications. A tribe so responsive to new ideas,
so ready to assimilate liberating thought, so filled
with the spirit of adventure, might have become
a Church on fire for Christ in the East, instead
of a potent agency for Bolshevism. It has been
left too long. Suspicious governments now guard,
Islam controls and Communism has captured
them.

In the City of Seagulls everyone knew Piotr, and
it was incumbent on him to drive his guests in
style. Right through the crowded main street the
sturdy horses galloped abreast, shaking their thick
manes and scattering the crowd of Kalmuks, Turkis,

AMONG THE EUROPEANS 297

long-robed Chinese and white-turbaned Mullahs,
to the gate of the house where the Trio were to be
lodged. The street was Turkestan and its crowd
was the multi-coloured Central Asian throng, but
the group of cottages where they stayed was pure
Siberian. The thick mud walls, the small windows,
the scrubbed boards, the white-washed stove, with
ks sleeping-place on top, were identical with those
of the isba, which its owner had abandoned in
Semipalatinsk.

It was Saturday afternoon and each Siberian
housewife was at the tub, washing cotton dresses
for the next day's church-going, while the boiler
was filled up for the children's Saturday night
bath. To-morrow the workshop of every homely
trade would be closed and the family party,
dressed in its poor best, would keep the Sunday
festival.

The sudden transition from gross idolatry to
Christian tradition was the first breath of home
air to the Trio. Idolatry is an almost meaningless
word to the Westerner, who has never had to hold
his own against the spirit of suffocation which Satan
spreads among those who worship him. In the
West an idol is a toy, an ornament, a mascot, a
fashion, but in the land where it commands the
homage of men and women, its hand-wrought

298 SOMETHING HAPPENED

figure is a mask for the Devil, who, through it,
receives obeisance and worship. Therefore, the
missionary never dares to relax the intensity of
his inmost protest.

For the first time for many years the Trio woke
up to an all-pervading sense of " Sunday atmos-
phere." Its outward manifestations were closed
shops, clean clothes, leisured attitudes, and some-
thing extra for breakfast. At the hour of public
worship, when the road was full of little family
parties, the Trio also, in their poor best, joined
up and walked slowly to the hall which was used
as Church by the Orthodox.

Inside the building men and women were
separated, and the right aisle was crowded with
men, young and old, each of whom was absorbed
in his own devotions. There was a sound of
murmured prayers, and rough hands were lifted
to form the sign of the Cross, while at intervals
one or another fell on his knees, and laid his fore-
head to the bare boards. The other aisle was
crowded with women whose faces expressed both
passion and resignation. Each wore as head-dress
the kerchief, characteristic of her own locality.
The big-boned, horny-handed peasants, whose
bodies were bowed by field work, had come here
to give expression to something which, were it not

AMONG THE EUROPEANS 299

allowed an occasional hour of relief, might snap
under the strain of its intensity.

In the choir-stalls stood ten young men and
women who sang, with natural genius, the ancient
music of the Russian liturgy. A peasant priest
officiated, whose long hair curled over his shoulders
and whose beard was the colour of a ripe horse-
chestnut. His vestments were of poor material,
and he wore a stiff, pink robe which made him look
like a life-sized doll. He was followed by a clumsy
little acolyte carrying a wooden candle-stick as tall
as himself. The ikons of the sanctuary were the
poorest oleographs, and it might have been thought
a tawdry spectacle were it not for the impressive-
ness of the sorrow-scarred human beings who
formed the congregation.

The atmosphere was surcharged with pathos,
sorrow, resignation and pain. Even though they
were here to worship Him Who is resurrection and
life, there was no joy, no expression of hope, no
lifting up of the head, only long-drawn sighs and
falling tears. It was a company of exiles, and in
their midst were a few who, that very morning,
had reached the City of Seagulls after a perilous
flight from Siberia, bringing for most some word
concerning relatives left behind, news which caused
the barometer of life to rise or fall under pressure

300 SOMETHING HAPPENED

of joy of grief. To the priest himself the word
had come: "Your son has met with a sudden
death." Small wonder that, as he performed the
ritual that day, he moved in and out of the sanctuary
as one who walks in a dream.

One hour later a little maiden with forget-me-not ,
eyes and a wild rose complexion called at the tsba
to fetch the Trio to a meeting of the non-Orthodox
Russian Christians. She led them to a shabby
house in another part of the town, where they were
introduced to the living-room of a very poor watch-
maker. The room was filled with a congregation
of men and women, among whom small children
ran freely in and out without seeming to cause any
disturbance to the gathering, which was char-
acterised by a spirit of great intimacy. Behind
a long table sat the watchmaker himself, and with
him two young men who were also recognised
as leaders.

In the centre of the table was a book, and that
book was the Bible. The service proceeded with-
out any form of ritual. The first half-hour was
spent in singing evangelical hymns, which so
exactly expressed the feelings of the worshippers
as to constitute their spontaneous psean of praise.
The joyousness of that singing was such that its

AMONG THE EUROPEANS 301

triumphant shout dispelled all gloom of the past,
or fear of the future.

After the singing there was prayer, and this also
took on its own individual form for, at a sign, all
knelt and there was a fervent murmur as each one
began to pray audibly, until the room was filled
with the sound of petition which first rose then
gradually died down and lapsed into silence. From
this the company passed to a new outburst of
jubilant singing, and then came the central act of
the service, which was a reading from the Bible.
Only two or three members of the congregation
owned a copy of the Scriptures, so this reading
had a particular importance for them, and they all
listened with intense earnestness as to the oracles
of God.

The preaching was not understood by the Trio,
as it was entirely in Russian, but it evidently con-
sisted of a few simple remarks by one and another,
concerning the passage which had been read. See-
ing they could not understand, they had leisure to
look around and notice the peculiar characteristics
of these people as they contrasted with those of the
Orthodox congregation. All equally poor, equally
outcast, equally in danger, the dominating expres-
sion of the one group was tragedy and of the other
radiant joy.

302 SOMETHING HAPPENED

It had seemed an anachronism for a man dressed
in pink brocade and tawdry tinsel, his long hair
hanging loose about his shoulders, to be swinging
a censer and performing recondite rituals before a
congregation whose very faces declared their need
of a living Saviour approachable by common men.
What ailed him that he failed to detect their
inarticulate cry : " Sir, we would see Jesus " ?
That day the hearts of both priest and people were
wrung with sorrow, but they only stood together
among the shadows and gazed upon the mysteries
of religion.

In the watchmaker's shabby room while ritual
was absent, tradition was discarded and even the
simplest ceremonial forms were lacking, the service
was joyous and living, and as the radiant people
sang, prayed and read that Book, their sorrow was
turned into joy. The contrast was that between
stately death and rugged life.

The snag of the " Schismatics " was theological
hair-splitting and intolerance of anyone else's bit
of the hair. Later on, when a matter of baptism
was under discussion, an expression of grieved
aloofness settled on the faces of a certain man and
his wife, which grew to pained disapproval when
they found the leaders not prepared to waive a
detail of method, in deference to their superior

AMONG THE EUROPEANS 303

theological acumen. Such rigidity seems to be an
indigenous growth of the Protestant soul, but with
the entrance of the missionaries something happened
which arrested attention and helped to fix it on
the central purpose of the Christian calling.

A Chinese, once an idolater, but now a Christian
believer, came forward with a request to be bap-
tised also. It was an unprecedented event in the
experience of this congregation, that a converted
heathen should ask for the privileges of fellowship,
and the incident opened a vista of possible service
before them. Their enemies had scattered them
from Siberia and God had brought them to a
Christless land. To what purpose this exile?
When it was the turn of the missionary to speak,
there was some straight talk about the spread of
the Gospel through the dispersal of persecuted
Churches : " Open that book which lies before you
and read in the Acts of the Apostles. The very
things which happened in Samaria, may come to
pass in Turkestan, and the eunuch of Gaza's desert
find a counterpart in the Qazaq of Dzungaria's

steppes."

.

The tarantass specially licensed by the U.S.S.R.
authorities to ply between the City of Seagulls and
Baxti, stood at the door of the little isba where the

304 SOMETHING HAPPENED

Trio and Topsy were staying. The carriage was
like a large tea-tray laid on four wheels, and they
all sat round its edge, dangling their legs. In the
middle was the luggage which consisted of four
rugs, four pillows, two large bags of sun-dried
crusts and one pot of jam, given them by the
members of the Christian community, who were
greatly concerned lest they starve under the famine
conditions of Southern Siberia. There was also
a large bag of %amba, which is Tibetan food made
from parched corn, ground to flour, and which
only needs the addition of hot water to produce a
nourishing, sustaining, palatable gruel, and a few
of the bricks of tea which central China manu-
factures from the leavings of the tea-shops, for
consumption in Turkestan.

Of money they had not one cent, it being for-
bidden to take any coin into Russia, and the govern-
ment which forbids faith in God, demands from its
visitors such faith in itself, that they must pass its
frontier penniless, staking everything on a draft
which the Soviet Bank promises to honour.

The party rolled along in company with the
faithful Chinese servants who had shared the dangers
of the road all the way from the City of Sands.
Soon the Chinese frontier station was sighted, a
soldier called on them to halt, luggage was examined,

AMONG THE EUROPEANS 305

passports stamped, one last witness for Christ made
to the frontier guard, then the party stood and sang
once more its valedictory hymn :

" Let the fiery, cloudy pillar
Guide me all my journey through"

It was a hard parting, and there were tears in all
eyes as the cart went on with no escort but the
Russian driver, and China lay behind once more.

For half an hour the road lay across a level plain
and soon the tall, red tower of the Soviet outpost
was seen. Sentries were on guard and, from a
point of vantage, a soldier scanned the horizon with
a telescope. Again passports were examined and
the party drove one mile more to the village of
Baxti. At the Custom House, baggage was most
rigidly inspected and their persons searched for
contraband goods. When the officers released
them they went to the Bank, where the cashier
exchanged their draft for money, then on to the
garage. Here the motor-cars which connect Baxti
with the railhead, ran in and out, depositing
passengers and starting off once more on the
seventeen hour trip.

There was a small group of people waiting, for
the postal van was due to leave in an hour. The
most interesting of these were an Uzbek man and

306 SOMETHING HAPPENED

woman who had travelled from Tashkend to the
Turkestan border where they had been refused
admittance, so were turning back to cover the same
weary ground over again. The man was ninety
years of age, shrewd in mind and wiry in body.
Sitting in a corner of the room was his wife, a little
shapeless figure, whose whole front was enveloped
in a black buckram veil. Not one line of the
living being inside was visible, for over her head
was draped a black cloth coat with empty sleeves
hanging loose on the shoulders. She could have
been mistaken for a bale of goods, were it not that
a thin voice piped up from behind the buckram
to ask the Western women where they came from,
where they were going, where their husbands were,
and how many children they had. As soon as the
room was empty of men the veil was slipped to one
side and the small, pale face of a woman of seventy
looked out, her eyes blinking at the light. She
said she was the mother of twenty children, but
the Trio, well used to the customs of Moslem
houses, quite understood that she was claiming as
her own the progeny of several women.

With a roar the great motor-truck rushed into
the court and the travellers hustled for a place.
It was the heaviest type of lorry, so high that the
passengers only scrambled in with the greatest

AMONG THE EUROPEANS $07

difficulty, and it was seatless, so that men and women
sat on the floor, using their luggage to protect them
from bumps.

Sometimes, lurching along in their old Chinese
cart, the Trio had pictured the delights of a car to
speed them on their weary way, but now they
learnt the horrors of heavy motor vehicles on rough
roads. It was two o'clock in the afternoon when
they left, and every few hours throughout the night
they stood for a moment to pick up mail bags,
which were unceremoniously hurled into the truck
regardless of the passengers.

At midnight a slightly longer halt was made.
It was pitch-dark, but a few buildings could be dis-
tinguished in the gloom. There was a sudden
shout and half a dozen young men leapt on to the
lorry, while companions handed up heavy boxes,
bales and steel girders. All these things were flung
on the top of the passengers, regardless of safety
to life or limb. Some of the men were drunk and
all were wild hooligans. One big bale landed on
the top of the little Uzbek woman, who began to
wail, lament and scold her husband. Male pas-
sengers protested vigorously and some tried to
throw the goods overboard. The Trio saw that
any protest was useless and were soon so pinned
down by cases, steel girders and mail bags as to be

308 SOMETHING HAPPENED

unable to move. The climax was reached when a
long, sharp, naked saw was laid across Mildred's
body so that as soon as the motor moved she
must be flung on to its teeth. Passengers sat in
terror, the little Uzbek shrieked and called on
Allah to witness the iniquity, and the driver stood
by helpless.

The Trio knew perfectly well that when the car
moved there must be broken limbs or lacerated
flesh, if not loss of life, and each one silently called
on God to deliver in the hour of peril. Man may
shut up churches, forbid services, and ridicule
religion, but the earth is still the Lord's, the heavens
also are His, and He is nigh unto them that call
upon Him. In that hour of danger their cry was
heard, and suddenly something happened.

The helpless driver mounted his seat and started
his engine, but the truck refused to move. Again
and again he tried and still the car remained sta-
tionary. At last he gave up and, turning round,
said : " Comrades, my engine will not carry this
load." The answer was a shout and a volley of
violent words, but the driver persisted: "Com-
rades, my engine will not work." At last, to the
amazement of everyone, the hooligans leapt from
the lorry, flung out their goods, girders, trunks
and saws, and vanished into the darkness.

AMONG THE EUROPEANS 509

All night the lorry rushed on, passing over
undulating country, up hill and down dale, through
small villages where the only inhabitants who
roused were those who belonged to the little post
offices. They lighted up at the approach of the
truck and got their mail bags ready to fling on
without delay.

By half-past ten next morning the railway station
of Sergiopol was sighted, and as the motor drew
up torrents of rain came down. The station water
tank was boiling, and the famished party had a
drink of tea and a bowl of %amba before boarding
the train which was to take them to Novo-Sibirsk,
where they would join the Trans-Siberian line.
Thirty-six hours later they reached this junction.

*

The railway station of Novo-Sibirsk, at two in
the morning, was a mass of sleeping humanity.
The waiting-room was very large, but still too small
for the parties who squatted in and around it,
waiting patiently for an opportunity to travel on
to their destination. The Trio hoped to leave
again at six o'clock, but were informed that no
tickets were available for that train and they must
wait until three o'clock in the afternoon.

A very wearying day dragged slowly by, most
of which was spent standing in a queue at the

310 SOMETHING HAPPENED

booking-office. Even so it was better for them
than for others, for they were possessors of a
precious slip of paper, signed by the Station Master,
which instructed the booking-clerk to supply the
bearer with four tickets to Moscow. The three
o'clock train never materialised, but about half-past
six one drew up to the platform. It was longer
and more crowded than any train the Trio had ever
seen and its whole length was composed of third-
class carriages. It already held far more people
than seats, and after a frantic struggle the Trio were
left stranded on the platform with a large crowd
of unsuccessful gate-crashers like themselves. The
situation was desperate because this was, quite
evidently, the chronic condition of the railway
system.

Then something happened. There was a woman
who, seeing that they were strangers and did not
speak Russian, had shown them various small
kindnesses during the day. This person now
came forward and stated the difficulty of the
strangers' position to the Conductor. She evi-
dently had a ready and persuasive tongue, and
after a long argument room was made on the
train for the Trio and for herself.

Having helped them so far, she undertook to
see them safely to Moscow, It was impossible

AMONG THE EUROPEANS 11

to supply the members of the party with a bench
each, so the four passengers were given two seats
to share, and at night they took it in turns to lie
on the floor among the cockroaches, as so many of
their fellow-travellers were doing.

In the course of the long days of slow travel
the Trio came to know their protectress very
well indeed. They carried a Russian phrase-book
and with its help fairly free communication was
established between them. She was a school-
mistress, and there was an evident mental brilliance
about her which gave her a leader's place in the
crowd. There was no doubt about her being a
red-hot Communist and when the name of God was
mentioned, she shook her mass of short, fair hair
and said : " Is there anyone left who still believes
in God ? " She looked pityingly, yet with a touch
of wistfulness when she saw the three women
read the New Testament and pray, as if to say
" You ought to know better, and yet . . ."

The journey was supremely uncomfortable, but
deeply interesting, and the kindness of fellow-
travellers made it a very touching experience.
With such crowds on the train, the supply of boiling
water in the railway station tanks was wholly inade-
quate, and as there was no water whatsoever on the
train, each time it stopped there was a wild rush

312 SOMETHING HAPPENED

with the kettles. The Trio would have stood
small chance in the crowd, but each time some
young man came forward and filled their kettle
for them.

Once there was an incident which threatened
difficulty. At a side station an Inspector questioned
a detail concerning the Trio's tickets. It seemed
that there was a loop line and that they should,
according to some indication written on the ticket,
have travelled by the other side of the loop. The
mistake had been made in utter ignorance, and all
they could do was to show the sentence in their
phrase-book which said: "I will pay the differ-
ence." The matter was, however, not to be so
easily settled and the irate Inspector seized their
baggage with a view to throwing it out on the
station platform. At this point their fellow-
travellers rose up in protest. One strong-faced
woman declared that the man was a " formalist."
Another took up the word and another, until the
whole company was expressing its hatred of a
"formalist." The Inspector retired, discomfited,
and in the end a sheet of paper and a pencil was
borrowed from the Trio, with which the school-
mistress wrote out a report of the proceedings, to
which each person in the carriage signed his name.
After this had been handed in they were left undis-

AMONG THE EUROPEANS 313

turbed, and the administration made amends for
its Inspector's formalism by refusing to accept the
difference which they owed on the tickets.

The great Moscow terminus was swarming with
people and enquiry brought the unpleasant news
that every hotel was full; but the Trio were allowed
to sleep in the women travellers' dormitory, where
there were couches to lie on and a woman attendant.
The " model " railway station was extraordinarily
interesting. It contained not only dormitories,
but a creche, infant welfare, dispensary and school-
rooms where parents left their children to be taken
care of, while they saw to their own business.
Everyone wore the poorest clothes and the most
wretched boots. Meals could be bought at the rail-
way station buffet, but food was of a very inferior
quality and at the rate of exchange quoted by the
Baxti bank, fabulously expensive.

It took two days of hard work to secure all the
necessary visas for which it had been impossible
to arrange in Central Asia, where are neither
Lithuanian, Latvian, Polish, German nor Belgian
consuls. Since last the Trio were in Europe they
had read of so many conferences being held, and
so much time and money being spent, with the
object of promoting entente between the nations,
that they hoped for better things this time, but the

SOMETHING HAPPENED

old suspicions were still thefe which make of each
frontier a barrier bristling with annoying regula-
tions to antagonise the traveller as he approaches
the country. If the desire for goodwill were
sincere, the first item on the conference agenda
should be: "Passports; how to dispense with them."
The troublesome business was only accomplished
with the help of a motor-car, hired from Intourist,
which took the party to and fro until all the various
technical requirements of the different consulates
had been complied with. Apart from the night-
mare experiences of the Baxti lorry, this was the
Trio's first motor drive since last fuslough, and
they were out to thoroughly enjoy it. It was too
bad that on that first occasion Francesca should
have been pitched out of the car on to the Moscow
cobblestones. Happily, there was no worse harm
than bruises, which she tried to ignore, lest she
be compelled to have the injuries treated at the
hospital, to which the chauffeur was determined
to take her, and certainly would have done, had
she not sternly suppressed his zeal.

* *

All the roubles remaining from the Baxti banker's
bounty, were to be confiscated at the opposite
frontier, but, with good management, the Trio
succeeded in narrowing the balance down to such

AMONG THE EUROPEANS 315

a fine point that there were only three left for the
Government to take.

The stately Custom House Hall at Negoreloye, was
decorated with wall-paintings, illustrating the bliss
of life under Soviet regime, and a frieze composed
of a stencilled slogan : " Workers of the world
unite." Examination of baggage was rigid and
their quilts and pillows were fingered so carefully,
that nothing undetected could have remained in
either. The Trio laid the meagre remnants of
their money on the table, remarking that they
would have liked something to eat, but if their last
roubles were confiscated, of course they would
have to do without food.

" If you spend it in the buffet, I will let you have
it," said the Customs tavarish, but the examination
was dragged out to such length that there was no
time for a meal. Determined to get full value out
of their money, one of the Trio flew to the buffet
and looked wildly round for something both edible
and portable. There was nothing left but a dish
of apples and a great many cigarettes, so she swept
up as many of the apples as she could carry, and
rushed back in triumph to the train.

It was not yet the end of the Russian line, and
before long the train stopped again to allow every
official and soldier of the U.S.S.R. to alight. Then,

316 SOMETHING HAPPENED

carrying passengers only, the engine-driver pro-
ceeded to Stolpce, the Polish frontier town. From
a land of plenty in Chinese Turkestan, the travellers
had stepped over an invisible line into the famine
conditions of South Siberia. Now, on the Polish
border, they passed over another invisible line, to
a land where again food was abundant and could
be bought without restriction.

The station of Stolpce was crowded with school
children, all keenly interested in the arrival of the
Moscow Express. This day they had an un-
expected treat in the appearance of Topsy, a little
Chinese girl in her native dress. They all stared,
then turned in a body, and followed her into the
waiting-room. Among them were teachers who
spoke French and German and soon an improvised
missionary meeting was in full swing, which only
ended when the bell sounded to summon all
passengers on board for Berlin.

Some hours later the Transcontinental Express,
bearing the Trio and Topsy swiftly homeward,
rolled majestically into the great Friedrichstrasse
station at Berlin. Here was no difficulty with
hotels, and there was one close at hand which was
clean, cheap, comfortable and well managed. A
bed at last I They had not lain in a real one for
years. The luxury of that bath, with unlimited

AMONG THE EUROPEANS 317

hot water, soap and towels, after two weeks of
dry rubs there is no word in the English language
adequate to describe. \

The Trio had found a letter of credit awaiting
them in Moscow, but, owing to the peculiar regula-
tions which affect travellers' finances under Soviet
regime, they decided not to draw on it until they
left the U.S.S.R. In Berlin there were no subtle
traps for unwary feet, and they were soon furnished
with all the money they required, so they celebrated
the event with a good meal in a restaurant. There
was a bewildering choice of dishes, all of which
appeared to be made from clean and decent
materials, and each person was supplied with a
shining tumbler of untainted water which could
be drunk without fear.

It was a two class restaurant. Some of the tables
were laid with a convert, while others only boasted
a marble top. The Trio thought it best to accom-
modate themselves slowly to the luxuries of Western
life, so sat down in the lower place, but gave them-
selves up whole-heartedly to the pleasures of the
table - Chicken salad and mayonnaise. Fruit tart.
Coffee.

Their down-and-out clothes made them incon-
spicuous in shabby Russia, but very much otherwise
in trig Berlin. They did not own a garment other

318 SOMETHING HAPPENED

than those they wore, and at first they hesitated to
make themselves known to self-respecting friends.
But memory stirred and broke down their fears,
so, on the second day, when they were at least
clean and tidy, a letter was written which brought
kind-hearted, loving people to that little hotel, to
carry them off to a beautiful estate in the pine forests.

Under the trees of the avenue was gathered a
great assembly of German girls who, as the motor
turned in at the gate, burst into a loud, joyous,
sonorous hymn of triumph. They sang as those
might sing who were there to greet some victorious
army on its return from battle, but all that stepped
out of the car was three weary, shabby women,
who stood silent and so deeply moved that they
only wanted the song to last long enough to give
them time to recover.

Those three women had thought of themselves
as strangers in Berlin, but found that day a whole
company of friends who, for years, had shared with
them, through the fellowship of prayer, the hardness

of their toil.

.

The last lap of the long journey, Berlin to
Victoria -and during its hours time to think of
what awaited them over the threshold of London
life. Among the peoples of the East they had lived

AMONG THE EUROPEANS 319

and dressed as the Chinese and were used to slow,
decorous methods of life. The journey through
Russia had not disturbed their equilibrium, for they
travelled with simple, unsophisticated people, but
now they were nearly home, and England lay just
ahead with its safety, its security, its high standard of
comfort and efficiency, but with its rush and speed.

During the long years of their exile they were
conscious of having lost most of the things that the
world prices, together with the easy sense that no
situation could arise which might take them at a
disadvantage. One thing they had gained and
that they esteemed so highly, that everything else
might go, provided they retain it. Moving slowly
through desert solitudes they had learnt to measure
life, not by the fretful ticking of the clock, but by
the majestic course of the stars, and among those
silences the relative value of things temporal and
eternal had been settled for ever. In the wild rush
of accelerated life, could the poise of spirit essential
to that true discrimination be retained ? . . .

The boat train dashed on - Bromley - Penge -
Sydenham - Victoria.

" Here they are I "

What amazing thing had taken place at home
by which thousands of people had come to care so

320 SOMETHING HAPPENED

greatly for the extension of Christ's Kingdom in
Central Asia ?

Something had happened. The Trio now began
to understand how it was that doors had been flung
open before them, why such great opportunities
for evangelism had been given them in those
critical days, and why they had always been con-
scious of Divine protection in the hour of danger.

The Church at home had done her part, and the
Trio had been carried along by the buoyancy of the
faith which constantly upheld them.

For all companions in spiritual warfare this
intimate record, Something Happened, has been
written, and to them it is lovingly dedicated,

God took care to hide that country till He judged His

people ready,
Then He chose me for His Whisper, and I've found it,

and it's yours 1 "

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English Miles

50 100 150 200 300

Missionary Journeys

Red line =main journey
Suchow-Urumtsi trade route
four times.

Area shaded Red, covered
six times

1
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90

inset is a map of Asia^ the shaded
section of which marks the area"
shown in the larger map

N I N G S 1

f S H E N S I

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Baboon Pass =Hsinghsinghsia.
City of Peace =An'si.
City of Prodigals =Suchow.
City of Sands"=Tunhwang.
City of Seagulls =Chuguchak.
Cumul =Hami.
Eyelash Oasis =Maomu.
Gates of Sand =Shahmen.
Jade Gate=Yumen.

Oasis of Flowing Water
=Changliushui.

Oasis of Great Spring
=Tachflan

Oasis of Heavenly Tints
=Tientsan,

Portal of the Great Wall
=Kiayflkwan.

Mode of travel-mule cart or
camel.

Rate of travel-3 miles per
hour.

Travel Distances :
Suchow-Kashgar 96 days
-Urumtsi 36

-Chuguchak6a
-Sogonor 18

-Hwochow 50

"Tiffiif

48 440 104

BV

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Cable

Something happened

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